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UNIVERSITY 

OF  PITTSBURGH 

LIBRARY 


Dar.  Rtn. 
F114-2 
6S  G5M6 


THIS   BOOK   PRESENTED  BY 

Francis  Newton  Thorpe 


REMINISCENCES 


OP 


OLD  GLOUCESTER: 


OR 


INCIDENTS  IN  THE  HISTORY 


OF   THE 


COUNTIES  OF  GLOUCESTER.  ATLANTIC  AND  CAMDEN. 

NEW    JERSEY. 


The  spacious  Delaware  through  future  song 
Shall  roll  in  graceful  majesty  along  ; 
Each  grove  and  mountain  shall  be  sacred  made 
As  now  are  Cooper's  hill  and  Windsor's  shade. 

Poems  of  Nathaniel  Evans,  p.  120. 


BY  ISAAC   MICKLE, 


PHILADELPHIA. 

Pnblislied  by  Townsend  Ward, 

No.  415  South  Fourth  St. 
1845. 


CURTS,  PRINTER,  PHOENIX  OFFICE,  CAMDEN,  N.  J. 


/ 


PREFACE 


The  author  of  the  following  pages  has  attempted  little  more  than  to  collect,  and  present  at  one 
view,  those  recorded  items  relating  to  his  native  county  which  he  found  scattered  ih'sough  thq., 
writings  of  nearly  an  hundred  men.     He  has  been  careful  in  copying  these  items  to  cite  his  aa-'  > 
thorities,  and  the  detection,  therefore,  of  any  errors  in  this  part  of  his  work  will  cost  the  reader  but 
little  trouble.    Such  errors  it  has  been  the  author's  careful  study  to  avoid ;  and  he  flatters  himseir ' 
that  he  has  in  a  great  measure  succeeded. 

But  twenty  reasons  forbid  him  to  express  the  same  confidence  with  reference  to  those  incidenlrf 
gathered  from  oral  testimony  which  are  now  for  the  first  time  presented  to  the  publiLV     He  has 
rarely  found  two  legends  of  the  same  event  to  agree  in  all  material  points,  and  has  befen;  opligi:?^ 
therefore  to  apply  his  own  judgment  to  the  evidence,  and  make  as  near  an  approximulion  to  ti'ia  i 
truth,  as,  under  all  the  circumstances,  he  could.     If  any  one  should  detect  inaccuracies, in*  concrb'-'' 
sions  thus  formed,  (he  author  will  gladly  brook  his  animadversion,  if  it  only  be  attended  with  infor^-^' , 
mation  which  may  lead  to  a  more  correct  version  in  a  subsequent  edition,  ;  ,i 

An  acknowledgement  is  due  to  many  gentlemen  who  have  contributed  material  for  th\^  {irdchuy^,^' 
The  author  begs  leave  in  particular  to  refer  to  the  kindness  of  his  Excellency  Charles  C.  Straltorij 
of  Swedesboro',  to  J.  Fennimore  Cooper,  Esq.,  of  Cooperstown,  N.  Y.,  to  the  late  Joseph  Huf!;gV 
Esq.,  of  Burlington  county,  to  Mr.  Lemuel  H.  Davis,  of  Camden,  and  to  Doctor  Saunders,  of  Wo(?4-., 
bury,  from  each  of  whom  much  valuable  information  was  derived  relating  to  the  Revolutionary^ 
history  of  Gloucester  county.  /•, 

As  for  the  style  of  these  sketches,  a  sufficient  apology  will  be  found  in  the  fact  that  they  writes" 
intended  originally  merely  for  publication  in  the  columns  of  a  newspaper.  Their  appearance  in 
this  form  is  the  result  of  a  suggestion  from  some  of  the  author's  friends,  that  they  would  thus  bet- 
ter answer  the  end  for  which  they  were  written,  to  wit.  the  awakening  of  the  people  of  old  Gloucos- 
ter  to  an  interest  in  their  local  history.  This  has  been  too  long  a  neglected  subject;  yet  it  is  one 
to  the  study  of  which  pride,  patriotism  and  good  sense  alike  impel  us.  It  is  one  much  beUer 
worth  mastering  than  any  of  the  fables  and  we  might  add,  than  half  the  realities  which  the  young 
are  sent  to  college  to  learn.  True  knowledge,  as  true  charity,  begins  at  home ;  and  he  cemniences 
the  fabric  of  his  education  at  the  summit  instead  of  the  base,  who  neglects  the  history  of  hia  very  home 
to  get  from  poets,  or  less  truthful  orators  and  historians,  a  precise  knowledge  of  places  and  things 
which  most  likely  never  existed — or  which  if  they  did  exist,  it  were  better  we  had  never  heard  of. 

Should  these  Reminiscences  put  any  young  son  of  Gloucester  upon  the  Irue  path  to  knowledge, 
and  give  him  a  desire  to  learn  more  of  the  eventful  story  of  his  native  soil,  the  author's  labors  will 
have  been  requited. 

Camden,  N.  J.,  Dec,  1844. 


REMINISCENCES 


OF 


OLD     GLOUCESTER. 


CHAPTER  L 

THE  LOCALITIES  OF  THE  ABORIGINAL  TRIBES 
ON  THE  EAST  BANK  OF  THE  DELAWARE. 

Wide  stretching  from  these  shores — 
A  people  savage  from  remotest  time, 
A  huge,  neglected  empire — 

Thomson's  /rinto-,  951. 

The  accounts  that  have  been  pi-eserved 
of  the  Indians  living  upon  the  Delaware 
at  the  arrival  of  the  Europeans,  are  lor 
the  most  part  locked  up  either  in  very 
rare  books  or  in  languages  which  few  only 
can  understand.  Enough  of  them  how- 
ever is  accessible  to  inform  us  of  the 
names,  numbers  and  precise  localities  of 
all  the  considerable  tribes,  and  even  to 
give  us  a  full  idea  of  their  manners  and 
customs,  and  their  religious  and  political 
peculiarities. 

The  aborigines  of  New  Jersey  be- 
longed to  the  great  family  of  the  Dela- 
wares,  or  as  they  called  themselves,  the 
Lenni-Lennape,  or  First  People.^'-  Of 
all  the  rivers  in  their  wide  domains  the 
Delaware  was  their  favorite.  They  hon- 
ored it  with  the  name  of  Lennape-Whit- 
tuck  or  stream  of  the  Lennape  ;  and  on 
its  eastern  side  above  the  great  bend,  at 
a  place  which  was  called  Chichohacki  or 
the  Tumbling  Banks,  from  the  frequent 

•  History  of  the  Delaware  and  Iroquois  Indians, 
Phil.,  1832,  p.  22. 
B 


caving  in  of  the  shores,  "a  large  Indian 
town,"  says  the  legend  recorded  by 
Moulton,^-'  "had  been  for  many  years  to- 
gether where  the  great  chief  had  re- 
sided." The  country  over  which  this 
chief  had  the  name  of  ruling  was  called 
Scheyichbi,  and  nearly  tallied  in  extent 
with  the  present  limits  of  our  State. 

Of  the  relative  situation  of  the  various 
tribes  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Dela- 
ware, De  Laet  and  Master  Evelin  have 
left  us  very  definite  accounts.  From  the 
Ibrmerf  we  learn  that  on  the  smaller  ri- 
ver which  empties  into  the  Delaware 
Bay  a  little  below  the  Delaware,  now 
called  Maurice  River,  the  Sewaposees 

*  Yates'  and  Moulton's  New  York,  I.  p.  225. 
The  town  was  on  the  site  of  Trenton. 

t  Novus  Orbis,  Lib.  III.  Chap.  12.  The  follow- 
ing is  the  account  in  the  original :  "Quum  pleni- 
or  hujus  fluminis  [the  Delaware]  notitia  ad  nos 
nondum  pcrvenerit,  plura  de  illo  diccre  superse- 
deo.  Hoc  unum  addo,  varias  nationes  Barbaro- 
rum  ripas  illius  accolere  et  interiores  regiones  pos- 
sidore.  Ad  mitwrem  amnem  qui  in  sinum  egre. 
dilur  pauluiri  infra  mnjoris  fluvii  fauces,  dcgunt 
Sewaposii :  statim  intra  mujoris  fauces,  ad  dex- 
tram  quidein  Siconessii,  ad  sinistram  autem  Min- 
quasy ;  ulterius  ascendentibus  obvii  fiunt  Narati- 
congy,  Mantaesy,  Armewamexy,  qui  omnes  ad 
dextraiH  ripamjuxta  minores  arnnes  qui  in  majus 
flumen  influunt,  accolunt  eo  ordine  quern  expres- 
simus ;  remotiores  a  ripasunt  Mceroahkongy,  Am- 
akaraongky,  Remkokes,  Minquosy  sive  Machoer- 
entini,  Atsayongy  :  omnium  reiautissinii  Matti- 
kongy  et  Saukikanet." 


3 


THE  ERECTION  OF 


dwelt.  Just  above  the  outlet  of  the  Del- 
aware on  the  ri;2^ht,  about  Cohansey, 
were  the  Siconesses,  opposite  to  whom 
on  the  western  shore  lived  the  Min- 
quas.  Ascending  further,  he  met  the 
Naraticons  upon  the  Racoon, ^^  the  Man- 
teses  on  Mantua  Creek,  and  the  Arme- 
wamexes  on  Timber  Creek.  Further  up 
the  river  he  mentions  the  Ma^roahkonj^s, 
the  Amarongs,  the  Rancocas,  the  Min- 
quosees  or  Machcerentinees,  the  Atsions, 
the  Mattikongees  and  Sanhijrans  :  all 
which  tribes  resided  between  Timber 
Creek  and  the  falls  of  Trenton,  and 
doubtless  in  the  very  order  in  which  the 
careful  De  Laet  has  named  them. 

In  Master  Evelin's  letterf  several  of 
the  same  clans  are  mentioned,  and  their 
number  of  warriors  respectively  given. 
He  enumerates  the  Kechemeches,  a  tribe 
near  Cape  May,  who  mustered  fifty  men  ; 
the  Siconesses ;  the  Manteses,  who  had  a 
hundred  bowmen ;  and  their  equally  po- 
tent neighbors  who  dwelt  upon  the  Aso- 
roches.  Next  to  him,  on  the  Pensaukin, 
lived  Eriwoneck,  the  king  of  forty  men; 
and  here  our  author  says  the  new  Albion 
colony,  of  which  he  was  one,  sat  down. 
Five  miles  above,  on  the  stream  still  bear- 
ing the  name  of  its  first  masters,  dwelt 
the  king  of  Ramcock  with  a  hundred 
men ;  and  four  miles  higher,  about  the  site 
of  Burlington,  was  the  king  of  Axion 
with  two  hundred.  The  last  tribe  were 
more  numerous  than  any  of  the  others, 
and  extended  from  the  Assicunk  to  Mul- 
lica  River,  one  of  the  branches  of  which 
still  retains  the  name  of  Atsion.:j: 

To  avoid  any  apparent  inconsistency 
in  the  accounts  of  De  Laet  and  Evelin, 
we  must  remember  that  the  former  al- 
ways gives  the  name  of  the  people,  while 
the  latter  sometimes  gives  the  name  of 
the  place,  or  its  kings.  Thus  Evelin 
speaks  of  the  river  of  Asoroches,  or  Coop- 
er's Creek,  the  tribe  inhabiting  which 
Do    Laet    calls    Majroahkongs.     Thus 

*  Vide  Lindslrom's  map. 

t  Beaiichamp  Plantagcnet's  New  Albion,  writ- 
ten in  1618,  pajjcSO. 

t  A  tribe  called  the  Yacotnanshagkings  lived, 
it  seems  by  Tliomas'  map,  somewhere  in  the  inte- 
rior of  old  Gloucester  county  ;  but  it  is  not  men- 
tioned by  any  other  auUior. 


too  the  former  mentions  Eriwonec,  a 
king  on  Pensaukin,  whose  tribe  accord- 
ing to  the  latter,  called  themselves  Ama- 
rongs. 

From  this  pompous  catalogue  of  clans, 
one  might  suppose  that  the  eastern  bank 
of  the  Delaware  teemed  with  many  thou- 
sand savages ;  but  such  was  not  the  case. 
Master  Evelin,  who  wrote  in  the  fifth 
decade  of  the  seventeenth  century,  says : 
"I  doe  account  all  the  Indians  to  be  eight 
hundred;"  and  Oldmixon^'-  in  1708  com- 
putes that  they  had  been  reduced  to  one 
quarter  of  that  number;  which  estimates 
are  probably  very  near  the  truth. 

Many  details,  illustrating  the  appear- 
ance, institutions,  and  customs  of  the 
above  named  tribes  are  met  with  in  the 
old  Dutch,  Swedish  and  English  histo- 
rians of  the  Delaware.  These  being  mat- 
ters of  some  interest,  will  form  the  sub- 
ject of  a  future  chapter. 


CHAPTER  n. 

THE   ERECTION   OF  FORT   NASSAtJ. 

Satis  est  inamabile  regnum 
Adspexiste  lemel  ! 

Ovid,  Met.  XIK  79. 

The  planting  of  colonies  in  a  strange 
land,  where  an  untamed  nature  and  a 
race  of  untameable  men  conspire  to  offer 
opposition,  is  no  easy  work.  The  ad- 
venturers in  such  an  enterprise  must  pos- 
sess much  hardiness  to  undertake  it,  and 
nothing  but  the  greatest  caution  and  de- 
termination can  secure  its  permanent  suc- 
cess. 

The  Europeans  who  settled  upon  the 
shores  of  the  Delaware  underwent  ma- 
ny trials,  and  Civilization  more  than  once 
abandoned  her  new  home,  as  if  hopeless 
of  obtaining  a  foot-hold  against  the  per- 
ils that  surrounded  her.  Some  of  her  pi- 
oneers were  animated  by  a  desire  for 
gain,  and  others  by  a  love  for  novelty — 
passions  too  weak  to  lead  to  any  diffi- 
cult achievement.  It  was  not,  therefore, 
until  the  adventofatiiird  people,  prompt- 
ed by  an  invincible  attachment  to  liber- 
ty, that  the  refinements  of  the  Christian 

*  British  Empire  in  Am«rica,  I.  p.  141. 


FORT  NASSAU. 


world  took  firm  root  in  the  soil  of  West 
Jersey.  Of  the  empires  of  these  thi'ee 
nations,  so  far  as  they  have  any  interest 
to  the  denizens  of  old  Gloucester,  we 
shall  speak  in  order ;  and  firstly  of  the 
Dutch. 

The  earliest  settlement  in  this  couytry 
— the  earliest  indeed  upon  the  eastern 
bank  of  the  Delaware — was  made  by 
Captain  Cornelius  Jacobese  Mey,  sailing 
in  the  employ  of  the  second  West  India 
Company  of  Holland.  To  this  company 
the  States  General  had  in  1621^'"  granted 
an  immense  tract  of  territory  upon  the 
seaboard  of  America,  which  they  claimed 
by  virtue  of  the  occupancy  of  Henry 
Hudson,  an  Englishman  bearing  their 
flag,  and  the  first  European  who  landed 
upon  our  shores. 

Captain  Mey  brought  with  him  a  num- 
ber of  persons,  and  all  the  necessary 
means  for  building  a  colony. f  He  en- 
tered Delaware  Bay,  as  historians  with 
wonderful  unanimity  are  agreed,  in  1623, 
and  gave  his  name  to  the  Jersey  cape. 
As  the  place  for  his  settlement  he  fixed 
upon  Hennaomissing:[:  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Sassackon,  the  most  northerly  branch 
of  Gloucester  River,  or  Timber  Creek, 
as  the  English  afterwards  called  it  "from 
the  great  quantities  of  curious  timber," 
says  old  Gabriel  Thomas,  "which  they 
send  in  great  floats  to  Philadelphia."  ^ 
Here  he  built  a  fort  of  logs,  and  named  it 
Nassau,  in  honor  of  a  town  in  the  circle 
of  the  Upper  Rhine  in  Germany.  This 
fortification  doubtless  seemed  formidable 
to  the  Indians,  who  beheld  with  seeming 
indifference  the  fefling  of  their  ancient 
forests  and  the  upturning  of  their  useless 
fields.  The  peace  thus  built  upon  the 
fears  of  the  natives  was  much  strength- 
ened by  a  mutual  love  for  barter:  for 
where  each  party  believes  he  is  cheat- 
ing the  other,  there  is  no  danger  that 
commerce  will  be  interrupted. 

How  long  Mey  occupied  Fort  Nassau, 
or  what  was  the  cause  of  his  departure, 

*  Macauley's  History  of  New  York,  II.  p.  285, 
t  Gordon's  New  Jersey,  p.  7. 
t  Clay's  Annals  of  the  Swedes  on  the  Delaware, 
p.  16. 
§  History  of  West  Jersey,  p.  28. 


history  and  legend  tell  us  not.  We  only 
know  that  the  next  ship  that  was  sent  up 
the  Delaware  found  the  post  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  savages,  and  the  country 
entirely  deserted  by  the  Europeans.'^ 
The  captain,  wherever  he  steered,  bore 
with  him  the  esteem  of  the  natives,  who 
long  contrasted  his  good  conduct  with  the 
cruelties  and  wrongs  of  his  successors, 
and  wished  either  that  he  had  never  come 
among  them  or  that  he  had  staid  forever. 
The  second  essay  of  the  Dutch  to  ef- 
fect an  establishment  on  the  Zuydt  Riv- 
ier  (as  they  called  the  Delaware,  in  con- 
tradistinction to  the  North  River)  was 
made  under  David  Pieterson  De  Vries, 
who  arrived  in  1631,  eight  years  after  the 
erection  of  Fort  Nassau,  bringing  with 
him  a  colony  of  thirty-four  persons  and 
the  proper  implements  for  the  raising  of 
tobacco  and  grain,  and  the  carr}'ing  on 
of  whale  and  seal  fisheries.f  His  first 
landing  at  Hoornekill,  on  the  west  side 
of  the  bay,  was  marked  by  a  gross  out- 
rage upon  the  feelings  and  rights  of  the 
hitherto  friendly  Indians ;  and  Ossetwho 
acted  as  duputy  during  a  visit  of  De  Vries 
to  his  father  land,  soon  after  forced  the 
natives  to  bring  him  the  lie^d  of  one  of 
their  number,  for  having  removed  the 
arms  of  the  States  General,  which  as  a 
badge  of  Dutch  dominion,  had  been  set 
aloft  upon  a  column.^  These  wrongs 
provoked  the  red  man's  anger,  and  Os- 
set  and  all  his  companions  were  murder- 
ed in  a  brutal  and  treacherous  manner. 
It  is  probable  that  some  of  the  colonists 
had  possession  at  that  time  of  the  im- 
provements on  the  Sassackon :  and  if  so, 
they  shared  the  same  fate  with  their  more 
sea-ward  brethren. 

Thus,  two  hundred  and  twenty-one 
years  ago,  was  established  the  first  em- 
pire of  the  Dutch  on  the  Delaware.  Old 
Gloucester  has  the  honor  of  having  been 
selected  as  the  site  of  their  capital,  and 
the  scene  of  the  first  essay  to  settle  and 
civilize  West  Jersey.  But  alas  for  the 
changes  of  time !  not  even  the  locality 
of  the  once  famous  Nassau  is  now  pre- 

*  Gordon,  p.  9. 

t  Clay's  Annals,  p.  12;  and  Gordon,  ubi  snpra. 

t  Gordon,  p.  10. 


THB  8TRATKQT  OF  THE  TIMMBRKILL. 


clsely  known.*  We  are  told  it  was  at 
Gloucester  Point, f  and  that,  from  the 
elevation  of  the  land  and  the  narrowness 
of  the  river,  is  certainly  the  most  likely 
pVdce  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Sassackon. 
Perhaps  centuries  hence  some  delver 
into  the  bowels  of  the  earth  will  strike 
among  the  broken  pipe-stems  of  Myn- 
heer, and  reveal  to  the  world  the  long 
forgotten  spot. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  STRATEGY  OF  THE  TIMMERKILL,  AND 
THE  DEPARTURE  OF  DE  VRIES. 

—snakes  are  in  the  bosoms  of  (licir  race : 
And  thougli  they   held  with  us  a  friendly  talk, 
The  hollow  peace-tree  fell  beneath  their  tomahawk  ! 

Campbell,  Gcr.  ofiyy.  I.  xvi. 

The  satiric  ByronJ  thought  it  ridicu- 
lous that  a  man  with  the  christening  of 
Amos  Cottle  should  attempt  to  make  po- 
etry; and  some  of  our  readers  who  join 
with  the  noble  rake  in  his  contempt  for 
familiar  names,  might  laugh  at  the  preten- 
sions of  Cooper's  Creek  to  any  thing  of 
historic  dignity.  To  avoid,  then,  giving 
offence  to  sych  fastidious  ears,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  preserve  the  character  of  a 
faithful  chronicler,  we  call  the  incident 
we  are  about  to  relate,  the  strategy  of  the 
Timmerkill ;  that  having  been  the  name  of 
the  stream  in  question  in  the  time  of  De 
Vries,^  and,  indeed,  (as  ap]>ears  from 
the  map  drawn  by  Nicolas  Visscherus) 
for  many  years  afterwards.  ||  And  now 
for  the  incident  itself,  which  shows  at 
once  in  the  strongest  light  the  worst  and 
best  traits  of  the  Indian  character. 

Upon  tho  return  of  De  Vries  from 
Holland  in  December,  1632,  he  "found 
no  signs  of  the  colony  he  exijected  to 
meet,  save  their  sculls  and  bones  strewed 

*  New  Jersey  Historical  Collections  by  Barber 
nnd  Howe,  p.  207. 

tSec  Air.  Rudman's  account  of  Nassau,  Clay's 
Annals,  p.  1.5. 

;  English  Bards  and  Scotch  Reviewers,  v.  393. 

^  (lordon  (ciiinjj  He  Vries' Journal)  p.  10. 

II  In  Lindstroni's  Map,  drawn  in  IfiS."),  Coop- 
er's  Creek  is  cniicd  fiiorte-kilcn — by  which  name 
or  by  lliat  of  Deer  Creek  it  is  always  designated 
in  Swedish  authors. — See  Duponceau,  in  Pref.  to 
Cainpanius,  z,  and  Campanius,  p.  48. 


over  the  face  of  the  ground."*  The 
trembling  natives  confessed  the  massa- 
cre of  Osset  and  his  companions,  and 
feigned  great  penitence  for  the  act. 
Preferring  to  pardon  where  it  was  dan- 
gerous to  punish,  and  being,  moreover, 
almost  out  of  provisions,  he  formed 
another  treaty,  and  stipulated  for  a  sup- 
ply of  venison  and  corn.  Under  the  pre- 
text of  fulfilling  their  engagement,  but 
still  animated  by  a  deadly  hate  of  the 
ravishers  of  their  wives,  the  Indians  de- 
coyed the  Admiral  from  the  renowned 
Nassau,  where  probably  the  negociation 
had  been  concluded,  and  persuaded  him 
to  enter  with  his  vessel  and  crew  into 
the  said  Timmerkill,  representing  them- 
selves to  have  copious  stores  of  proven- 
der upon  that  stream,  which  he  could 
readily  ship. 

The  unsuspecting  Dutchman  accord- 
ingly prepared  to  ascend  the  creek ;  the 
wish  of  the  natives  probably  being  to 
get  him  as  far  as  the  bluff  which  we 
now  call  Ward's  Mount,  where  the  bank 
rises  abruptly  on  the  south  side  to  a 
considerable  height,  while  the  channel 
opposite  is  partially  filled  with  rocks 
that  have  become  detached  and  rolled 
down.  The  wily  Indians  having  ground- 
ed the  httlc  lugger  at  this  place,  could 
from  the  impending  hill  have  assailed 
her  at  great  advantage ;  and  indeed  so 
they  might  if  she  had  grounded  in  any 
other  part  of  the  stream. 

But  asking  for  bread  and  getting  a 
stone,  was  not  quite  the  luck  of  the 
Dutchmen ;  for  an  Indian  girl  came  on 
board  of  the  vessel  secretly  ere  it  had 
reached  the  fatal  place,  and  laid  bare 
the  designs  of  her  countrymen,  who 
she  said  had  lately  murdered  the  crew 
of  one  vessel  up  the  Timmerkill,  and 
now  meant  to  add  the  slaughter  of 
another.  Thus  tho  wide  world  over, 
do  we  find  gentle  woman  laboring  to 
counteract  the  cruelties  of  man — pre- 
venting if  she  may,  the  blow  that  im- 
pends, or  if  it  must  fall,  blunting  its 
edge,  and  averting  its  effects,  regardless 
of  the  risk  to  herself.  This  nameless 
heroine  perilled  her  life  to  save  De  Vries. 

*  Clay's  Annals,  p.  13. 


THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  SWEDES. 


Had  her  kind  office  been  discovered  by 
her  tribe,  she  would  doubtless  have 
suffered  the  worst  tortures  which  their 
resentmeut  could  have  sugg^ested.  Her 
generous  bravery  in  the  cause  of  mercy 
does  much  to  alleviate  the  dark  traits 
in  the  character  of  the  Indian,  and  she 
deserves  to  be  remembered  forever,  as 
an  ornament  to  her  sex  and  her  race."' 

Thus  put  upon  his  guard  the  Admiral 
immediately  returned  to  head-quarters 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Sassackon ;  but  here 
the  designs  of  the  enemy  had  been 
fully  carried  out.  Expecting  of  course 
that  De  Vries  and  his  comrades  would 
be  duly  despatched  in  the  upper  creek, 
they  had  already  assailed,  carried,  and 
begun  to  pillage  the  evacuated  fort.  In 
the  midst  of  their  exulting  dance,  the 
admiral  hove  in  sight — not  floating  with- 
out his  scalp  upon  the  tide — but  main- 
taining his  upright  on  the  deck  of  his 
lugger,  and  near  a  dire  swivel  which 
never  perhaps  till  that  day  had  received 
a  swabbing.  The  Indians  were  at  first 
somewhat  disconcerted,  but  they  soon 
surrounded  him  in  their  canoes,  and  fifty 
of  their  warriors  boarded  the  vessel. — 
Now  it  is  a  part  of  Dutch  philosophy  to 
try  the  mildest  means  first;  and  true  to 
this  principle,  Admiral  De  Vries  did  not 
employ  the  swivel  aforesaid  against  his 
savage  invaders,  but  told  them  that 
Manitou,  their  great  spirit  had  revealed 
their  treachery;  and  then  suggested  to 
them  the  propriety  of  withdrawing,  be- 
fore the  same  Manitou  should  direct  the 
use  of  the  big  thunder.  They  immedi- 
ately followed  his  advice ;  and  this 
bloodless  capture  and  reprisal  in  the 
waters  of  Gloucester  certainly  constitute 
the  first  if  not  the  most  illustrious  naval 
engagement  of  which  we  have  any  certain 
details,  in  the  Niew  Nederlands  of  the 
South  River. 

Another  treaty  was  soon  after  made, 
notwithstanding  the  Punic  faith  of  the 
Armewamexes — for  so  we  have  seen  the 
tribe  on  Timber  Creek  was  called — and 
the  Admiral  again  smoked  his  pipe  in 

*  A  well  written  tale,  founded  on  thia  circum- 
stance, and  called,  we  think,  "Yacouta,  a  legend  of 
West  Jersey,"  was  pubiisliud  about  a  year  ago  in 
Mis3  Leslie's  Magazine. 


peace  behind  the  logs  of  famed  Nassau. 
He  probably  felt,  however,  that  he  held 
his  scalp  in  tenancy  at  sufferance ;  for  he 
soon  left  J  the  Delaware  with  all  his 
colonists  and  implements,  and  true  to 
Holland  economy  took  back  with  him  to 
the  father-land  even  the  bricks  he  had 
brought  out  wherewithal  to  build  houses ; 
and  with  him  departed  forever  the  un- 
disputed empire  of  the  States  General 
over  the  country  of  which  we  are 
treating:. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  SWEDES,  AND  ACCES- 
SION OF  JOHN  I. 

— ignota  in  veste  reporlat 
Advenisse  viros. 

ViRG.  ^n.  Vn.  167. 

The  second  people  who  settled  upon 
the  Delaware  were  the  Swedes;  and  their 
advent  has  been  fixed,  by  several  histo- 
rians who  have  followed  the  careless 
Campanius,"  as  far  back  as  1631  or  even 
1627.t  But  Campanius  says  himself  J 
that  the  Dutch  had  abandoned  the  coun- 
try entirely  when  the  Swedes  came,  and 
we  have  seen  that  the  fort  on  the  Sas- 
sackon  was  occupied  down  to  1633. 
Moreover  asClay^,\  observes,  it  is  admit- 
ted on  all  hands  that  the  first  Swedish 
fort  was  built  in  the  reign  of  Christina 
after  whom  it  was  named,  and  we  know 
she  was  not  crowned  for  some  time  after 
1631.  It  may  have  been  however  that  a 
few  straggling  Swedes  found  their  way 
to  the  Delaware  during  the  empire  of 
the  Dutch ;  and  that  thus  Campanius  was 
misled. 

From  the  departure  of  De  Vries  in 
1633,  the  Dutch  occasionally  came 
around  to  Fort  Nassau  to  trade  with  the 
Indians,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  they 
endeavored  or  even  wished  to  maintain 
a  colony  on  the  Delaware.  Presuming 
more,  we  imagine,  upon  this  want  of  oc- 

*  Page  79. 

t  Holmes'  Annals,  T.  p.  242  ;  Smith's  New  Jer- 
sey, p.  22 ;  Jolinson's  Salem,  p.  7 ;  Macauley'a 
New  York,  II.  p.  303. 

{  Page  6rf. 

'SAuudU  of  the  Swcdca  on  the  Delaware,  p.  19. 


THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  SWEDES. 


Gupancy  than  the  cession  of  the  Dutch 
right  of  which  Campanius  speaks,*  the 
Swedes  under  Menewe  in  163St  built  the 
fort  and  town  of  Christiana,  near  where 
Wilminj^ton  now  stands,  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  empire  of  New  Sweden. 
These  new  comers  found  Nassau  in  ru- 
ins— "utterly  destroyed  by  the  Indians" 
says  Campanius,:]:  "and  all  who  were 
therein  murdered  or  driven  away."  It 
was  rebuilt,  however,  by  its  old  masters, 
(who  soon  returned  to  watch  the  intru- 
ders upon  their  rights)  and  figured  in  the 
revolutions  of  after  days. 

Nor  was  the  renovation  of  Nassau  the 
only  infringement  upon  the  possession  of 
the  Swedes.  A  company  of  Englishmen 
from  New  Haven,  settled  in  1641  (^\  on 
the  site  of  Salem,  and  began  with  Sax- 
on determination  to  establish  a  colony. 
And  thus  four  nations,  speaking  four  dis- 
tinct languages,  enjoyed  for  a  time  the 
banks  of  the  Delaware  in  common,  and 
lived  in  peace  with  each  other. 

The  Swedish  star  however  was  in  the 
ascendant.  The  colony  at  Christiana 
increased  rapidly  in  strengh,  and  began 
to  exercise  the  superiority  which  it  felt 
over  its  cotenants.  In  1642 1  JohnPrintz, 
John  I.  of  Tinicum,  armed  with  a  royal 
commission  as  Governor,  came  out  from 
Sweden,  and  superceded  Peter  Hollen- 
dare  (the  successor  of  Menewe)  in  the 
■direction  of  aflairs.f  From  this  epoch 
we  must  date  the  establishment  of  the 
first  civilized  government  on  the  South 
River;  the  Dutch  and  English  having 
.enjoyed  a  return  of  Ovid's  golden  age, 
in  which  "erant  sine  judice  tuti, ""'-"'''  un- 
less indeed  the  legend  be  true,  that  com- 
mander Menewe  had  dobid  out  justice  to 
the  men  of  Nassauff  until  a  quarrel  with 
his  subjects  compelled  him  to  fly  to  Hol- 
land, and  afterwards  led  him  to  espouse 
the  interests  of  Sweden. 

Before  the  arrival  of  John  I.  the 
Swedish  agents  had  purchased  of  the 

*  Pnpe  68, 

t  Acrcliuj',  cited  by  Clay  p.  19.     Gordon,  p.  1 1. 
X  Ubi  supra.  §  Clay's  Annals,  p.  22. 

II  Idem,  p.  20  ;  Gordon,  p.  13. 
is  Clay's  Annals,  p.  17.     **  Melamor.,  I.  ver.  93. 
++ Clay's  Annals,   p.  16;  and  see  Macaulcy's 
New  York,  II.  p.  286. 


Indians  all  the  land  from  Cape  May  to 
Racoon,  in  order  to  circumvent  the  Eng- 
lish squatters  at  Salem;  and  his  sub- 
Majesty  was  instructed  to  procure  their 
removal  by  fair  means,  or  to  unite  them 
with  his  colony.-"'  But  persuasion  fail- 
ing to  induce  the  Englishmen  to  leave 
their  improvements,  the  Swedes  and 
Dutch  united  and  expelled  them  by 
force;!  and  John  I.  immediately  built 
Fort  Elsinborg  at  the  mouth  of  Salem 
Creek  to  prevent  the  exiles  from  return- 
ing. J  This  place,  however,  being  in  the 
neighborhood  of  low  marshes,  was  much 
infested  with  musquitoes,  prodigious 
swarms  of  which  attacked  the  garrison 
and  forced  them  to  retreat.  The  fort 
from  this  circumstance  was  nicknamed 
Myggenborg,  that  is  to  say  Musquitoe 
Fort;  and  it  was  demolished  by  the 
Swedes  themselves^  after  Stuyvesant, 
with  more  leniency  than  its  former  as- 
sailants had  made  it  a  bloodless  prize. 

The  capital  of  New  Sweden  was  fixed 
on  Tinicum  (or  Tennekong  as  the  abori- 
gines  called  it)  a  well  known  island  op- 
posite the  shore  of  Greenwich  Township, 
which  is  now  a  township  itself,  and  a 
famous  one  from  a  pleasantry  current 
about  election  time  among  Pennsylvania 
politicians.  II  Here  John  I.  built  Fort  New 
Gottenborg.  "He  also  caused  to  be  built 
there"  says  his  minute  chronicler,*!  "a 
mansion  for  himself  and  his  family,  which 
was  very  handsome.  There  was  like- 
wise  a  fine  orchard,  a  pleasure  house 
and  other  conveniences.  He  called  it 
Printz  Hall.  On  this  island  the  princi- 
pal inhabitants  had  their  dwellings  and 
plantations." 

John  I.  governed  the  destinies  of  the 
Swedeland  Stream  for  ten  years,  and  it 
seems  with  a  pretty  high  hand.  His  first 
act  was  in  violation  of  his  instructions 
from  the  crown  of  Sweden,  and  in  his 
whole  reign  he  affected  independence  of 
the  mother  government,  and  was  more 

•Clay's  Annals,  p.  22. 
t  Macauley's  New  York,  II.  p.  351. 
t  Gordon's  Now  Jersey,  p.  14. 
^Campanius,  p.  80. 

||"Tiniciini    is  beard  from — give   up!"     The 
place  polls  about  twenty  votes. 
If  Campanius,  p.  79. 


OF  NEW  8WEDKN  IN  THE  DAYS  OF  ITS  GLORY. 


despotic  at  Tinicum  than  Gustavus  at 
Stockliolm.  It  is  related  that  he  forbade 
many  emigrants  to  land,  and  that  in  re- 
turning to  Sweden  some  of  them  per- 
ished; and  of  those  who  did  disembark 
a  chief  part  were  kept  in  slavery,  em- 
ployed in  digging  the  earth,  throwing  up 
trenches,  and  erecting  fortifications. '=^' 
In  fact  the  villenage  of  the  middle  ages 
was  introduced  in  unmitigated  severity, 
and  the  first  king  of  Tinicum  seems  to 
have  been  inclined  neither  by  nature  or 
education  to  attempt  the  improvement  of 
such  a  state  of  things.  His  tyranny  made 
him  excessively  unpopular,  and  his  abdi- 
cation in  1652  was  hailed  with  joy 
throughout  New  Sweden.| 


CHAPTER  V. 

OF  NEW  SWEDEN  IN  THE  DAYS  OF  ITS  GLOBY. 

— — perhapi  in  after  days 

They'll  learn  to  love  your  name ; 
And  many  a  deed  shall  wake  in  praiie, 

That  long  hath  »lept  in  blame. 

Moore's  Ode,  "Jf^eep  an." 

Notwithstanding  the  unauspicious  tem- 
per of  John  I.  New  Sweden  during  his 
reign  reached  a  condition  far  too  respect- 
able to  be  dismissed  with  a  mere  allusion. 
On  both  sides  of  the  Swedeland  stream, 
and  on  several  of  its  islands,  were  con- 
siderable settlements,  which,  between 
the  joint  tributes  of  the  old  mother  coun- 
try and  of  the  new  county  mothers  in- 
creased with  amazing  rapidity,^:  and 
seemed  to  argue  for  the  yellow  ci*oss  of 
the  Northmen  a  firm  establishment  in  the 
woods  of  the  newer  world. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  Swedeland 
Stream,  the  most  southern  town  was 
Christina  Hamn,  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Brandywine  and  Christiana  Creeks  ; 
next  was  Finland,  a  settlement  of  bond 
Fins  and  Laps ;  and  then  came  Upland, 
where  now, Chester  stands,  famous,  if  we 
may  believe  the  insinuation  of  a  roman- 
cer,^ for  the  inquisitiveness  of  its  people. 

*Campanius,  p.  7-3.      t  Clay's  Annals,  p.  25. 

t  The  peculiar  fitness  of  the  Swedish  matrons 
for  a  new  country  is  celebrated  by  William  Penn. 
Ciarkson  I,  p.  309, 

§See  Print/-  Hall,  a  novel  in  2  vols.,  by  Mr.  Gal- 
lagher; Phil.  1839.     Vol.  II.  p.  119. 


At  Passayunk,  which  was  a  crown  gift  to 
Swen  Schute,  was  Fort  Korsholm;  and 
at  Manayunk  on  the  Schuylkill  there  was 
another  fortress,  from  a  description  of 
which  we  can  form  some  idea  of  the  mil- 
itary architecture  of  the  day.  It  was  "a 
handsome  fort"  says  Campanius-''  "built 
of  logs,  filled  up  with  sand  and  stones, 
and  surrounded  with  palisades  cut  very 
sharp  at  the  top." 

Upon  the  island  of  Tinicum,  as  we 
have  said  before,  was  the  great  capital 
New  Gottenborg,  the  residence  of  all  the 
Johns,  and  the  intended  Stockholm  of  the 
new  world.  On  a  peninsula  a  little  north 
of  Upland  lived  the  black  bearded  Olof 
Stille  and  some  other  Swedish  freemen 
who  had  much  dealing  with  the  Indians. 
On  Manathann  or  Cherry  Island  near 
Fort  Christiana  was  a  manulactory  of 
tubs  and  boats,  carried  on  by  two  Dutch- 
men, renegades  probably  from  Nassau, 
and  some  Swedes.  And  at  Karakong, 
a  creek  now  unknown,  was  the  Gover- 
nor's mill,  the  first  that  ever  clattered 
upon  the  Delaware. 

On  the  Jersey  side  of  the  river,  the 
most  southern  settlement  of  which  we 
have  any  certain  account,  was  Elfsborg, 
at  Fort  Point  in  Elsinboro'  township, 
Salem  County,|  or  as  the  Indians  called 
it,  Wootsessung-sing.  The  next  was  at 
a  promontory  opposite  Reedy  Island, 
which  still  retains  the  name  of  Fins' 
Point,  where  probably  resided  only  Fins 
and  Laps,  who  were  kept  in  slavery, 
and  had  a  particular  spot  appointed  to 
them  apart  from  the  freemen. J  On  the 
Racoon  in  Gloucester  County  where  now 
Swedesborough  stands,  a  town  was  built 
at  a  very  early  day,  and  became  the  chief 
post  on  the  east  of  the  Swedeland 
Stream.  In  addition  to  these  it  is  highly 
probable  that  the  settlement  called  by 
Campanius  Chinsessing^  was  also  upon 
the  eastern  bank  in  Burlington  County, 
about  Cinnaminson ;  for  although  Dupon- 
ceau  has  concluded  that  Chinsessing 
and  the  modern  Kingsessing  in  Philadel- 
phia County  are  one  and  the  same,  it  is 

*  Page  80.  t  Johnson's  Salem,  p.  7. 

t  Campanius,  p.  73. 

§0r  Sinecsingh.  Descrip.  of  New  Sweden,  p.  48. 


e 


OF  NBW  SWEDEN  IN  THE  DAYS  OF  ITS  GLORY. 


to  be  observed  that  J  iindstrom  has  marked 
no  place  on  the  western  side  of  tlie  river 
which  sounds  at  all  hkethat  name,  while 
he  has  marked  a  creek  on  the  eastern 
side  next  but  one  above  the  Hiorte-Kilen 
or  Cooper's  Creek,  Sincessino^h ;  in  con- 
firmation whereof  we  may  add  that  the 
stream  next  above  Pensaukin  is  to  this 
day  called  Swedes'  Branch.**  Campan- 
ius  leaves  us  in  darkness  as  to  the  precise 
locality  of  Chincessing,  but  he  has  told 
us-f-  that  it  was  "not  properly  a  fort,  but 
substantial  log  houses  built  of  good  strong 
hard  hickory,  two  stories  high,  which 
was  sufficient  to  secure  the  people  from 
the  Indians;"  and  he  adds  "in  that  set- 
tlement there  dwelt  five  free  men  who 
eultivated  the  land  and  lived  very  well." 

Of  the  number  of  people  inhabiting  the 
Swedeland  Stream  in  the  palmy  days  of 
the  Swedish  empire  we  have  no  certain 
information.  We  know  however;]:  that 
in  the  next  generation  after  the  conquest 
by  Stuyvesant,  that  is  in  1693,  there  were 
about  a  thousand  who  still  retained  the 
Swedish  language  and  customs.  When 
we  remember  that  a  double  subjugation 
must  have  driven  many  back  to  Sweden, 
and  that  by  intermarriage  with  the  Dutch 
and  English,  many  others  lost  their  na- 
tionality, we  may  fairly  account  ihat  the 
population  of  New  Sweden  at  her  fall 
was  not  far  from  the  same  number. 

The  government  established  by  Printz 
was  in  effect  a  monarchy,  regulated  only 
in  name  by  the  power  of  the  crown  at 
home;  which,  though  it  professed  to  in- 
struct, was  too  weak  by  reason  of  its  dis- 
tance to  compel,  and  therefore  too  wise 
to  insist  on,  compliance.  We  have  seen\^ 
one  instance  of  the  l)oldness  of  his  sub- 
Alajesty  John  I.  in  sending  back  cargoes 
of  convicts  wh<mi  the  government  at 
home  had  transj)orted  to  the  Swedeland 
Stream  And  this  is  by  no  means  the 
only  case  in  which  the  will  of  Tinicum 
overruled  that  of  Stockholm. 


*  Idem  80,  and  Diipnnceau's  nolo  ibidem.  See 
Gordon's  l.irgc  map  of  New  Jersey. 

t  Page  81. 

t  From  tlie  census  preserved  in  Canipanius,  p. 
1C4. 

^  Ante,  Chap.  IV. 


The  Swedish  settlements  on  the  Del- 
aware were  managed  to  a  certain  extent 
by  a  Navigation  Company,*  divisible  at 
least  in  name  from  the  government  of 
Sweden  itself,  though  hardly  to  be  sepa- 
rared  in  any  thing  else.  From  this  joint- 
direction  arose  one  of  the  four  estates 
recognized  among  the  people  of  New 
Sweden.  First  was  the  Governor,  su- 
preme in  political  matters ;  secondly,  the 
company's  servants  who  were  employed 
in  various  capacities  in  the  private  econ- 
omy of  the  new  empire ;  thirdly,  the  prin- 
cipal men  or  freemen,  who  came  over  to 
better  their  fortunes,  and  might  locate 
and  build  where  they  pleased,  and  return 
home  whenever  they  wished;  and  fourth- 
ly, were  vagabonds,  malefactors,  and  the 
victims  of  Sweden's  triumphs  in  war; 
who  were  held  in  strict  slavery,  and  were 
employed  in  all  the  base  services  of  pure 
villenage,  apart  from  the  better  classes, 
and  confined  to  particular  spots  of  land, 
which  they  dare  not  leave  except  upon 
the  bidding  of  their  masters.f  This 
condition,  abject  though  it  was,  the  vag- 
abonds aforesaid  doubtless  preferred  to 
the  late  they  would  have  met  had  they 
remained  in  Europe. 

Of  the  details  of  the  government  of 
Tinicum  no  very  full  account  has  reached 
us.  One  fact  has  however  been  pre- 
served, and  we  record  it  merely  to  show 
the  lovers  of  the  unique  how  much  they 
have  lost  by  the  remissness  of  New 
Sweden's  chroniclers  :  the  Secretary  of 
State  received  eight  rix  dollars  per 
month,  and  the  gubernatoi'ial  barber  ten. :j: 
A  civil  list,  the  symmetry  of  which  re- 
minds of  Jack  Falstafi's  tavern  bill — 
"Item,  sack,  five  and  eight  pence;  item, 
bread ,  hal fpe nny . ' ' ^ 

When  John  I.abdicated  in  1652,  it  was 
in  favor  of  his  son-in-law,  John  Pape- 
goya,  or  as  historic  dignity  requires  us  to 
call  him,  John  II.  lie  two  years  after 
resigned  his  sccjjtre  to  John  Risingh,  the 
last  of  the  vice-roys  of  Tinicum ;  who, 
accompanied  by  I.indstrom  the  engineer, 

♦Gordon,  p.  1.1. 

+  ('ampiinius,  Book  II.  chap.  vii. 

t  (lordon,  iil>i  supra. 

§  Shaivspcarc,  I  King  Henry  IV,  ii.  4. 


WHAT  THE  SWEDES  SAW  UPON  THE  DELAWARE. 


9 


had  come  out  as  commissioner,  soon  after 
the  abdication  and  departure  of  Printz>'' 
How  Ichabod  was  written  on  the  doors 
of  New  Sweden,  and  what  John  ill.  did 
to  sustain  the  waning  glory  of  his  realm, 
will  presently  appear. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

WHAT  THE  SWEDES  SAW  UPON  THE  DELA- 
WARE. 


Nod  e<;a. 


-Credat  Judzus  Apella; 


HOR.  Brund.  HO. 


The  Swedes  of  the  Delaware,  natu- 
rally superstitious,  and  having  their  taste 
for  the  monstrous  heightened  by  really 
meeting  with  much  that  their  philosophy 
had  never  dreamed  of  before,  discovered 
many  things  in  their  new  home,  which 
we  of  later  days  inhabiting  the  same 
country  have  never  even  heard  of  Some 
of  these  prodigies  are  gravely  recorded 
by  pastor  Campanius  and  others,  and  it 
may  be  amusing  to  select  a  few  of  them 
to  show  what  a  wonderful  place  New 
Sweden  must  have  seemed  to  be,  and 
how  little  truth  will  sometimes,  even  in 
pious  and  good  writers,  give  rise  to  a 
great  deal  of  falsehood. 

And  firstly,  said  Campanius  testifies 
that  at  Kag-Kisizachens,  or  at  Oldman's 
Creek,  (so  called  by  us  after  the  Dutch 
name  Alderman's  Kilen)  all  plants  grew 
luxuriantly,  particularly  tobacco  ,'t  and  it 
was  considered  a  healthier  place  than  Oit- 
sessingh,  or  Elfsborg,  on  Salem  Creek, 
From  Oldman's  Creek  to  Memirako, 
otherwise  Naraticon,  or  Racoon  Creek, 
he  says  "there  are  several  islands,  which 
are  nothing  else  but  marshes,  such  as  we 
have  in  our  lakes  in  Sweden;  they  pro- 
duce a  great  quantity  of  rushes,  grow^ 
ing  together  with  strong  thick  roots,  so 
that  a  man  may  walk  upon  them,  sinking 
deep  however  in  mud  and  water.  In 
these  marshes  there  grows  a  kind  of  root, 
which  the  Swedes  call  hog's  turnep; 
they  look  and  taste  much  like  the  Jeru- 

*  Clay's  Annals,  p.  25. 

t  "The  tobacco  is  excellent  upon  the  river  Del- 
aware."   Blome,  p.  87. 
G 


salem  artichoke :  the  Indians  feed  upon 
them  when  their  bread  and  meat  fail. 
On  these  roots  the  swine  feed  all  the 
winter,  and  grow  very  fat  upon  them." 

From  Racoon  to  Makle's  (or  Mantua) 
Creek,  he  avers,  "there  grows  a  great 
quantity  of  walnuts,  chestnuts,  peaches, 
cypresses,  mulberries,  fish-trees,  and 
many  other  rare  trees  to  which  no  names 
can  be  given,  as  they  are  not  found  any 
where  else  but  on  this  river."  Below 
Timber  Creek,  and  in  the  woods  above, 
there  is  said  to  have  been  a  great  num- 
ber of  white,  brown,  blue  and  red  grapes  ; 
and  Deer  Creek,  now  Cooper's  Creek, 
was  famous  for  peach  trees,  and  the 
sweet-smelling  sassafras  tree.  From 
Aquikanasra,  or  Potty's  Island,  to  Sin- 
cessingh,  the  place  probably  now  called 
Cinnaminson,  "the  land"  continues  the 
author  "is  high,  and  not  well  suited  for 
cultivation.  In  this  place  grows  thejish- 
tree,  which  resembles  box-wood,  and 
smells  like  raw  fish.  It  cannot  he  split; 
but  if  afire  be  lis;hted  around  it  with  some 
other  kind  of  wood,  it  melts  away.  Here 
at  Sincessingh  the  Rennappi  Indians 
catch  tortoises,  sturgeons,  and  other 
kinds  of  fish."  It  would  puzzle  the  Pea 
Shore  men,  we  imagine,  to  find  one  of 
these  wonderful  trees  now,  notwith- 
standing the  Swedish  parson  so  une- 
quivocally asserts  their  existence. 

Somewhere  between  Quinkoringh, 
now  Kinkora,  and  Rancocas,  there  was 
believed  to  be  a  silver  mine ;  and  "at  VVa- 
rentapecka  Creek,  more  to  the  south, 
there  is  a  place  in  the  middle  of  the  creek 
that  never  freezes,  and  where  swans  are 
seen  at  all  times."  This  Warentapecka 
and  the  modern  Pensaukin  are  doubtless 
the  same,  except  in  the  peculiarities  here 
attributed  to  them. 

Thus  much  for  the  river  shore  of  our 
county.  "As  for  the  interior,"  writes 
the  same  author  in  language  worthy  of 
an  Irishman,  "nothing'  is  known  about  it 
e.jccept  that  it  is  believed  to  be  a  continent : 
the  Swedes  have  no  intercourse  with  any 
of  the  savages  but  the  black  and  ivhite 
Meni(wees,  and  these  know  nothing  ex- 
cept that  as  ftir  as  they  have  gone  into 
the  interior  the  country  is  inhabited  by 
other  wild  nations  of  various  races." 


10 


THE  WAKS  OF  THE  DUTCH  AND  8WKDES. 


But  tlio  wonders  of  New  Sweden  did 
not  stop  at  fish-trees  and  white  and  black 
Indians.  The  Delaware  was  alive  with 
whales,  sharks,  sea-spiders  and  tarm- 
lisks;  and  its  shores  "with  a  large  and 
horrible  serpent  which  is  called  a  rattle 
anoke,  which  has  a  head"  adds  our  eye- 
witness author  "like  that  of  a  dog,  and 
can  bite  off  a  man's  le^  as  clear  as  if  it 
had  been  hewn  down  loith  an  aa^e!"  The 
skins  of  these  snakes  were  supposed  to 
have  a  peculiar  medicinal  property,  and 
were  much  sought  by  the  Indian  women 
in  pregnancy, 

Tiie  sea-spiders — great  numbers  of 
which  were  driven  ashore  by  the  south 
winds  at  Spinnol's  Udd,  or  Spider's 
Point,  now  Bombay  Hook — are  described 
as  being  "as large  as  tortoises;  and  like 
them  they  have  houses  over  them  of  a 
kind  of  yellow  horn.  They  have  many 
feet,  and  tJieir  tails  are  half  an  ell  lotif(, 
and  made  like  a  three-edged  scnv,  with 
which  the  hardest  trees  may  be  sawed 
down."  In  which  exaggerated  account  it 
is  easy  to  recognize  the  well  known 
shell-fish  called  the  king-crab. 

The    teirm-fisk  Campanius   deposeth 
"hath  no  head,  and  is  like  a  smooth  rope, 
one-quarter  of  a  yard  in  lengh,  and  four 
lingers  thick,  and  somewhat  bowed  in 
the  middle.     At  each  of  the  four  corners 
there  runs  out  a  small  bowel  three  yards 
long,  and  thick  as  coarse  twine.     With 
two  of  these  bowels  they  suck  in  their 
food,  and  with  the  two  others  eject  it  from 
them.     They  can  put  out  these  bowels 
at  pleasure  and  draw  them  in  again,  so 
that  they   are    entirely  concealed;   by 
which  means  they  can  move  their  bodies 
about  as  they  like,  which  is  truly  won- 
derful to  look  upon.     They  ere  enclosed 
in   a   house  or   shell  of  brown   horn." 
There  was  also  a  kind  of  tish  withf(reat 
lorii(  teeth,  calUd  by  the  Indians  manitto, 
that  is,  spirit  or  devil;  which  "plimged 
very  deep  into  the  water  and  spouted  it 
up  like  a  whale."     The  author  says  this 
manitto-dsh  was  only  seen  in  one  partic- 
ular spot  of  the  Delaware;  and  it  were 
useless  to  hint  that  both  it  and  the  tarm- 
fisk  have  now  left  our  waters  entirely. 

Many  more  strans:e  things  are  related 
by  the  early  to]:ographers  and  geogra- 


phers of  this  part  of  New  Jersey;  but 
here  we  end  our  digression,  referring 
the  curious  to  those  writers  themselves, 
wherein  such  oddities  will  more  at  large 
appear. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  WARS  OF  THE  DUTCH  AND  SWEDES. 

— nulla  cudavera  calccnt ! 

JuvEHAL,  Sat.  Xy.  60. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Dutch,  as  if  to 
play  the  dog  in  the  manger,  had  returned 
to  their  deserted  dominions  very  soon 
after  the  Swedes  began  to  setde  them, 
and  that  the  two  nations  had  formed  an 
otfensive  alliance  against  the  English. 
This  feeling  of  friendship  did  not  last  a 
great  while — the  allies  quarrelled — and 
a  war  ensued,  the  most  singular  in  one 
repect,  at  least,  of  any  ever  recorded. 

Of  this  sad  rupture  it  is  said  the  fort  at 
the  mouth  of  Salem  Creek,  or  Mosquitoe 
Fort,  was  the  remote  cause.  Campani- 
us-'' testifies  that  this  place  "was  mounted 
with  cannon,  and  when  the  Swedes  came 
in  from  Sweden  with  their  ships  these 
guns  were  fired  to  welcome  them."  It 
is  ol)jectedt  however  that  a  less  innocent 
use  was  ibund  for  the  Myggenborg  batte- 
ry, and  that  the  Swedes  therewith  forced 
the  Dutch  ships  passing  up  to  Fort  Nas- 
sau humbly  to  strike  their  flags;  which, 
if  true,  was  justified  by  the  prior  inso- 
lence of  the  Dutchmen  at  Nassau,  who 
had  claimed  to  stop  Swedish  vessels 
from  visiting  W^icacoa  andChinsessing.J 
Yet  the  retaliation  oflbred  by  the  Eli's- 
borgers  being  somewhat  abstract.  Myn- 
heer might  have  forgotten  or  forgiven  it, 
J>ut  for  other  events  which  occurred 
sometime  afterwards,  and  made  war  in- 
evitable. 

The  Dutch  in  1(151  erected  Fort  Cas- 
imer  on  the  site  of  New  Castle,  within 

»  Pujre  80. 

•f  Srnitirs  New  Jcrsoy,  p.  23 ;  from  a  MS.  en- 
titled A  iriff  iiccount  of  New  NelUerlaml,  in  Hans 
Sloan's  collrclion. 

t  ^rv,  Gordon,  J).  )<l ;  nnd  instniclions  to  Gover- 
nor Priiilz,  Cla)/'s  Aiiiiul»,  p.  t'iJ. 


THB  WARS  OF  TIIK  DUTCH  AND  SWEDES. 


11 


four  miles  of  Christina  itself,  "in  the  land 
of  the  Swedes"  says  Campanius,--"  "and 
in  spite  of  various  protestations  of  our 
g-overnor."  This  John  III.  took  in  hij^h 
dudo^eon,  and  in  1654  he  formally  de- 
manded a  surrender  of  the  post.  After 
duly  smoking  the  summons  over,  the 
Dutchmen  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that 
they  hardly  knew  whether  to  comply 
or  not,  and  so  things  remained  in  statu 
quo.  Thereupon  the  governor  seized  it, 
but  whether  by  force  or  fraud  historians 
are  not  agreed.  The  Swedes  say  it  was 
taken  by  storm — the  Dutch,  by  treache- 
ry;f  the  latter  alleging  that  John  III.  and 
an  army  of  thirty  men  came  into  the  fort 
as  guests,  and  then  mastered  it  and 
obliged  the  conquered  garrison  to  swear 
allegiance  to  Queen  Christiana.  At  all 
events  it  was  taken  somehow;  and  the 
engineer  Lindstrom  having  improved  its 
fortifications,  it  was  thereafter  called 
Trinity  Fort.  And  thus  old  Nassau  be- 
came the  only  vestige  of  das  neue  Neder- 
landt  on  South  River;  it  being  garrisoned 
by  twenty  Dutchmen,  who  do  not  seem  to 
have  suffered  with  their  brethren  at 
Sandhocken  the  misfortunes  of  war. 

In  the  course  of  time — for  news  will 
travel  even  in  Dutch  ships — all  these 
transactions  on  the  Delaware  reached 
the  ears  of  the  great  Peter  Stuyvesant, 
who  lived  at  Manaates,  "a  clever  little 
town"  says  CampaniusJ  "which  went  on 
increasing  every  day,  and  was  a  fine 
commercial  place  where  goods  were 
bought  and  sold,  as  in  old  Holland;" 
which  clever  little  town  is  now  known  by 
the  name  of  New  York.  Stuyvesant  was 
governor  of  all  Dutch  America ;  and  vi- 
gilantly did  he  watch  and  valiantly  de- 
fend the  rising  empire  of  the  States  Gen- 
eral in  the  New  Netherlands.  Yet  his 
valor  did  not  lack  the  better  part — discre- 
tion ;  for  he  was  wont  to  smoke  a  matter 
over  sundry  times  before  he  decided  upon 
it  once.  This  precaution  however  he 
omitted  when  he  heard  of  the  fall  of  Fort 
Casimer.    On  that  occasion  he  concluded 


»  Page  82. 

+  Compare  Campanius,  p.  82,  and  Macauley's 
New  York,  II.  351. 
t  Uiii  supra. 


immediately,  and  his  conclusion  was  for 
war,  avenging  war ! 

Accordingly  at  the  end  of  August  165.5, 
with  seven  ships  and  six  or  seven  hun- 
dred men,  he  appeared  on  the  Delaware, 
and  proceeded  to  desolate  the  happy 
realm  of  John  III.  In  narrating  this  fa- 
mous expedition  the  immortal  Knicker- 
bocker has  done  more  than  justice  to  the 
victors ;  so  we  as  a  feeble  offset  will  follow 
the  accounts  of  the  vanquished,  prefer- 
ring, if  we  must  err  at  all,  to  err  in  favor 
of  the  unfortunate.  And  moreover  some 
there  are  who  boldly  say  that  Deidrick 
Knickerbocker  as  a  historian  is  worthy 
of  no  dependence  at  all,  whereas  John 
Campanius  of  Stockholm  was  a  grave 
parson,  not  to  be  suspected  either  of  a 
suggestion  of  falsehood,  or  a  suppres- 
sion of  the  truth.  There  are  two  rea- 
sons therefore  for  following  the  latter  in- 
stead of  the  former  of  these  writers. 

In  the  first  place  then  it  appears  that 
Stuyvesant  came  upon  the  Swedes  una- 
wares: John  III.  having  settled  the  Cas- 
imer affair  with  him  months  before,  and 
the  two  nations  being  entirely  at  peace, 
so  far  as  the  invaded  people  knew  or 
believed.  Herein  Stuyvesant  outraged 
the  universal  law  of  nations,  for  even  Zee 
Pentor,  the  sachem  of  the  Armewamexes, 
would  not  attack  the  Minquas  until  he 
had  declared  war  by  leaving  a  bloody 
club  upon  their  shores."' 

The  first  landing  of  the  Dutch  W'as  by 
night  at  Elfsborg,  where  "they  made 
prisoners  of  the  free  inhabitants."  The 
next  day  they  crossed  over  to  Fort 
Trinity,  which  the  commandant,  Swen 
Schute,  tenant  in  capite  of  Passyunk, 
"partly  by  threats  and  partly  by  persua- 
sion" treacherously  gave  up.f  The 
Swedish  officers  were  left  under  arrest, 
and  the  common  soldiers  taken  on  board 
the  victorious  fleet.     On  the  second  of 


*  The  Timber  Creek  Indians  were  at  war  with 
the  Minqaas  on  tlie  Christina  in  1633.  DeVries 
says  in  liis  Journal  that  the  saciiem  oftlie  former 
tribe  at  thnt  time  was  named  Zee  Pentor.  Stee 
Pierre  DuSimilre's  MSS.  in  the  Philadelphia  Li- 
brary. 

T  The  strength  of  Fort  Trinity  was  four  four- 
toen  ponnderH,  five  swivels  and  some  small  arms. 
Siiiilh'rf  New  York,  p,  6;  Holmes'  Annals,  I.  p.  3J6. 


13 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE  DUTCH  POWER, 


September,  Christina  was  invested,  but 
capitulated  without  a  serious  resistance; 
and  Stuyvesant,  fluslied  with  success, 
immediately  proceeded  to  assail  New 
Gottenborg,  on  Tinicum — the  very  eye 
of  New  Sweden,  and  the  seat  perhaps  of 
more  splendor  and  politeness  than  even 
New  Amsterdam  itself. 

John  III.  makino^  a  bold  stand  for  his 
capital,  the  invincible  Peter  landed  a 
force  and  laid  waste  the  plantations 
without  the  fort,  killed  the  cattle,  and 
plundered  the  outpost  Swedes  for  four- 
teen days.  Every  effort  was  made  to 
reduce  the  stubborn  place — except  the 
use  of  arms;  for,  although  Campanius 
says  the  fortress  was  surrendered  at  last 
"for  want  of  men  and  ammunition,"  it 
seems  that  the  latter  was  an  article  en- 
tirely superfluous  to  both  sides ;  it  never 
having  been  questioned  that  all  the  fa- 
mous battles  of  which  we  are  writing 
were  decided  in  the  following  manner. 
Taking  it  for  granted  that  the  most  nu- 
merous party  would  conquer  at  all  events 
if  they  fought,  they  also  took  the  fighting 
for  granted,  and  solved  the  problem  of 
victory  by  an  e((uation  of  noses.  After 
some  diplomacy,  this  philosophical  ap- 
peal to  arithmetic  instead  of  the  cartridge 
box  was  consented  to  by  John  III. — the 
Swedes  were  outcounted  by  the  seven 
hundred  Dutchmen — and  the  standard  of 
the  States  General  waved  in  bloodless 
triumph  over  the  ramparts  of  Tinicum  ! 

The  terms  of  these  surrenders  were 
as  honorable  to  the  Swedes  as  the  means 
of  procuring  them  were  novel.  The  pro- 
perty of  the  crown  and  company  was  to 
be  restored,  and  to  this  end  it  was  in- 
ventoried. Such  being  the  case,  and  not 
a  drop  of  blood  having  been  shed  in  the 
whole  war,  we  cannot  marvel  at  the  lev- 
ity with  which  the  Swedes  evacuated 
their  capita! :  "with  their  arms,  with  fly- 
ing colors,  lighted  matciies,  drums  beat- 
ing, and  fifes  y)laying.  "The  officers  and 
principal  people  were  taken  captives  to 
New  Amsterdam — the  common  people 
received  the  yoke — and  thus  after  a 
Swedish  empire  o{  seve^nteen  years,  the 
Dutch  were  again  lords  of  a  country 
which  in  the  lanijuage  of  Kieft  had  been 
manv  years  in  their  possession,  "alx)ve 


and  below  studded  with  forts,  and  sealed 
with  their  blood.""' 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE  DUTCH  POWER, 
AND  FINAL  DESTRUCTION  OF  FORT  NAS- 
SAU. 

eirat  longe  mea  qiiidem  sententia 

Qui  iinperium  crcdat  gravius  e$»e  aut  stabilius 
Vi  quod  fit,  quam  illud  qund  amicilia  adjungitur. 
T£re:.nce,  Add.  I.  i.  40. 

Great  was  the  satisfaction  of  old  Nas- 
sau when  she  heard  of  the  surrender  of 
Tinicum,  and  found  herself  by  indubita- 
ble right  again  the  queen  of  the  Dela- 
ware; and  still  greater  was  it  when  the 
triumphant  Stuyvesant  entered  her  por- 
tals to  participate  in  the  jokes,  smokes, 
and  congratulations  which  naturally  fol- 
lowed his  brilliant  campaign  ! 

A  government  was  immediately  estab- 
lished by  the  conqueror  over  his  newly 
recovered  territory,  to  be  administered 
by  a  deputy  called  a  vice  director;  who 
was  invested  with  power  to  grant  lands 
by  patent,  to  decide  disputes,  and  in 
general  "to  see  that  the  republic  receive 
no  detriment."  The  first  lieutenant  was 
named  Johannes  Paul  Jacquet ;  the  sec- 
ond, Peter  Aldricks;  the  third,  Hinoiossa; 
and  the  fourth  and  last  William  Beek- 
man.t  These  functionaries  resided  some- 
times at  Tinicum,  sometimes  atNew  Am- 
stel,  and  sometimes  at  Fort  Nassau,  ac- 
cording to  the  exigencies  of  the  realm; 
that  is  to  say,  wherever  their  presence 
was  most  required,  there  they  were  sure 
not  to  be  found.  The  constant  quarrels 
however  between  the  Swedes  and  the 
Dutch  made  more  business  than  the  vice 
directors  could  possibly  elude;  and  so, 
as  the  next  preferable  alternative,  the 
worthy  judges  made  it  a  point  always  to 
discover  the  right  to  be  on  the  side  of 
their  coiuitrymen,  and  to  pass  sentence 
accordingly;  by  which  rule  of  decision 
that  conflict  of  precedents  so  trouble- 
some in  other  systems  of  judicature,  was 
wisely  avoided. 

»  Hazard's  Penn.  Register,  Vol.  IV.  p.  22. 


AND  HNAL  DESTRUCTION  OF  FORT  NASSAU. 


IS 


During  their  second  empire  the  Dutch 
added  a  few  houses  under  the  walls  of 
the  fort  at  Gloucester,  and  the  whole 
was  honored  with  the  name  of  the  town 
of  Nassau. ^^  Other  houses  were  also 
built  along  the  river  shore  for  some  miles 
above  and  below  the  town ;  the  inhabi- 
tants trusting  to  the  reduced  numbers  and 
subdued  spirit  of  the  Indians  for  that 
peace  which  they  had  formerly  secured 
only  by  seeming  ever  prepared  for  war. 
The  natives  however  had  not  forgotten 
the  affair  of  the  Hoorne  Kill ;  and  the 
failure  of  their  attempt  to  repay  their 
wrongs  by  murdering  De  Vries  on  the 
Timmerkill,  only  increased  their  hatred 
of  Mynheer,  and  induced  them  to  hug 
the  hope  of  vengeance  still  closer  to  their 
hearts. 

This  feeling  led  them,  after  the  fall  of 
New  Sweden,  much  further  than  they 
were  encouraged  to  go  by  the  tame  ex- 
ample of  the  Swedes  themselves.  They 
fell  upon  the  new  comers — did  them 
great  injury,  and  retaliated  upon  some 
Dutch  women  who  fell  into  their  hands, 
the  violence  which  their  own  mothers 
had  suffered  at  the  Hoorne  Kill.  "As 
the  Dutch"  says  Campanius,!  following 
the  account  of  Peter  Lindstrom  "did 
not  quickly  turn  upon  them,  but  rather 
sought  to  quiet  the  Swedes,  the  Indians 
took  them  by  surprise,  and  destroyed 
their  town  and  habitations  to  the  ground." 
Although  the  historian  does  not  clearly 
signify  what  Dutch  town  it  was  upon 
which  the  savages  thus  fell,  there  is  no 
doubt  it  was  the  town  of  Nassau.  For 
firstly  Campanius,  after  mentioning  the 
rebuilding  of  that  post  in  the  time  of  Go- 
vernor Printz.J  says  expressly  that  the 
Indians  destroyed  it  again;  secondly, 
the  Dutch  had  no  other  town  on  the  Del- 
aware save  New  Amstel,  which  we  know 
was  never  destroyed ;  and  thirdly,  from 
the  epoch  of  which  we  are  speaking 
nothing  is  again  heard  either  of  the  fort 
or  the  town  of  Nassau,  except  as  things 
which  had  ceased  to  be. 

*  Watson's  Historic  tales  of  the  Olden  Time,  p. 
14;  and  Du  Simitre's  MSS. 

+  Page  117. 

i  Ante,  p.  6 ;  and  Description  of  New  Sweden, 
p.  82. 


The  revenge  of  the  Indians  was  not 
visited  solely  upon  the  settlement  at 
Gloucester,  but  several  of  the  houses 
which  dotted  the  east  bank  of  the  river 
in  the  neighborhood  of  that  place  were 
assailed  at  the  same  time,  and  the  inhab- 
itants at  least  in  some  instances  mur- 
dered. The  remains  of  one  of  these 
outposts,  built  in  part  of  sturdy  square 
bricks,  such  as  are  made  only  in  Holland, 
were  visible  a  few  years  ago  at  a  point  a 
short  distance  north  of  Newton  Creek. 
Among  the  ruins,  there  were  pipe  stems 
in  abundance,  charred  wood,  and  glass, 
many  colored  from  the  effects  of  fire. 
Amidst  these  were  found  a  small  copper 
Swedish  coin  of  the  reign  of  Charles  X.,'^ 
and  an  insepult  human  skeleton,  the  skull 
of  which  was  pierced  in  the  back  part 
as  if  with  a  bullet ;  the  whole  revealing 
with  dreadful  certainty  one  of  those  tales 
of  horror  and  blood  with  which  ancient 
times  were  too  familiar  to  think  them 
worthy  even  of  being  recorded. 

During  the  directorship  of  Jacquet  and 
his  suceessors,  the  Swedes  seem  to  have 
occasioned  but  little  trouble,  though  a 
reasonable  suspicion  of  their  allegiance 
was  doubtless  the  cause  of  the  Dutch- 
men's forgiving  the  frequent  outrages  of 
the  natives.  The  latter  people  and  the 
Swedes  entertained  a  mutual  hatred  of 
their  new  masters,  which  cemented  their 
former  alliance  and  gave  room  for  no 
idle  fears  in  the  breasts  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  Peter  the  Great  of  Manaa- 
tes.  The  Swedes  seemed  disposed  how- 
ever to  use  their  influence  over  the  Indi- 
ans only  for  good;  and  in  their  laudable 
endeavors  they  were  assisted  by  the 
government  of  Sweden  itself,  which  sent 
out  books,  priests,  and  money  for  the  pro- 
pagation of  the  Christian  religion  among 
their  pagan  friends. 

But  stable  though  every  thing  else  be 
that  is  Dutch,  Dutch  fortune  is  as  fickle 
as  any  other — "varium  et  mutabile  sem- 
per!" That  people  had  committed  a 
great  outrage  upon  the  Swedes,  in  view 
whereof  Campanius  recordsf  with  evi- 
dent satisfaction  the  brief  triumph  which 

*  Who  ascended  the  throne  in  1654. 
+  Page  97. 


14 


THE  APPEARANCB,    CUSTOMS,  CHARACTEB  AND  INSTITUTIONS 


they  themselves  were  suffered  to  enjoy. 
In  the  course  of  a  decade,  Indians,  Dutch 
and  Swedes  were  all  bronj^ht  in  subordi- 
nation to  the  English.  I'he  two  last  na- 
tions hated  each  other  too  heartily  to 
have  any  ill  feelinf^lelt  for  Charles  II.  of 
Eng^land.  They  became  good  subjects, 
and  thus  we  dismiss  them.  But  upon 
the  Indians,  who  were  swept  into  obli- 
vion by  the  third  wave  of  civilization 
which  broke  upon  the  shores  of  the  Del- 
aware, a  former  promise  requires  us  yet 
to  bestow  a  more  particular  notice. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  APPEARANCE,  CUSTOMS,  CHARACTER, 
AND  INSTITUTIONS  OF  THE  INDIANS  UPON 
THE  DELAWARE. 


small  the  bliss  that  sense  alone  bestows, 

And  sensual  bliss  is  all  the  nnlion  knows; 
In  floriil  beaulv  grovis  and  fii-lds  appear; 
Man  seems  the  onl^  growth  that  tlwinillfs  here. 

Goldsmith's  Traveller, 


In  the  followin"^  description  of  the  first 
masters  of  the  Delaware  we  shall  mainly 
follow  the  accounts  left  us  by  William 
Penn^"  and  Gabriel  Thomas,  who  had 
much  intercourse  with  the  savai^es  on 
-toth  sides  of  the  river,  and  seem  to  have 
•observed  well  and  to  have  recorded 
faithfully  all  that  was  remarka])le  in  their 
social,  political  or  moral  condition.  We 
shall  not  however  nejj^lect  what  others 
have  written  of  a  people  who  must  be  to 
us  the  most  interesting^  portion  of  an  in- 
teresting race ;  but  shall  gather  from 
whatever  quarter  we  may  those  facts 
which  will  throw  any  light  upon  their  ap- 
pearance, customs,  character  and  institu- 
tions.    And  firstly,  of  their  appearance: 

I.  "Of  person"  says  Thomas,!  with 
particular  reference  to  the  Indians  about 
the  then  village  of  Philadelphia,  "they  are 
ordinarily  tall,  straight,  well  turned  and 
true  proportioned — their  tread  strong 
and  clever — generally  walking  with  a 
lofty  chin — of  complexion  black,  but  by 
design.  Gipsie-like,  greasingthemselves 

*  In  a  IcUcr  dated  August  IGlli  1683,  Blome'a 
PrcKcmt  St;ilc,  &,c.  p.  85. 

t  History  of  I'eiisilvania,  p.  46. 


with  bear's  fat  clarified,  and  using  no 
defence  against  the  injuries  of  the  sun 
and  weather,  their  skins  fail  not  to  be 
swarthy.  Their  eyes  are  small  and 
black.*  They  have  comely  faces,  some 
of  their  noses  having  a  rise  like  the 
Roman."  But  Campanius  tells  usf  that 
the  men  had  broad  faces,  flat  noses, 
large  lips  and  short  broad  teeth  ;  which 
features  added  to  a  head  flattened  by  be- 
ing tied  to  a  board  during  infancy  would 
seem  to  show  that  Thomas  was  by  no 
means  fastidious  in  his  ideas  of  comeli- 
ness. Both  writers  concur  however  in 
their  opinion  of  the  other  sex.  "The 
women,"  deposeth  the  Swede,  "are  ra- 
ther handsome,  with  round  faces,  high 
breasts,  and  bodies  straight  and  plump." 
These  suflered  their  hair  to  grow  to  its 
full  length,  and  generally  to  hang  loosely 
down  their  back ;  but  the  men  only  left 
enough  to  answer  their  enemies  in  case 
of  emergency  as  a  scalping  handle.  The 
common  warriors  had  one  tuft  upon  the 
top  of  the  head,  but  the  sakimas  by  way 
of  distinction  had  two,  which  were  plait- 
ed. "They  will  not  suffer  their  beards 
to  grow,"  says  the  first  historian  of  West 
Jersey,  J  "lor  they  will  pluck  the  hair  off 
with  their  own  lingers  as  soon  as  they 
can  get  hold  of  it,  holding  it  a  great  de- 
formity to  have  a  beard."  The  process 
of  tattooing  was  unknown  to  the  Dela- 
ware tribes ;  but  they  stained  their  faces, 
arms,  and  bodies  with  fantastic  daubs  of 
various  colors,  among  which  a  black 
paint,  said  to  l^ave  been  found  upon 
the  sea  shore^  generally  predominated. 
These  colors  were  changed  however  ac- 
cording to  the  feelings  of  the  individual; 
entire  black,  the  universal  sign  of  grief, 
was  used  for  a  whole  yt^nr  after  the  fu- 
neral of  a  friend;  and  a  coat  of  red  fol- 
lowed a  marriage,  a  successful  scalping 
party,  or  any  other  occasion  for  joy. 
I'he  observant  historian*!  records  that 
the  women  were  exceedingly  particular 

*  "  Not  unlike  a  strciglit  looked  Jew,"  adds 
Penn,  (upon  whose  description  'I'liomas  seems  to 
have  drawn  liberally.)     filomc,  p.  U6. 

tPajTC  116. 

t  Thomas,  p.  4. 

^(Jampanius,  ubi  supra. 

1i  idem,  p.  111). 


OF  THE  INWANS  UFOV  THE  DELAWARE. 


15 


in  Dettering  the  complexion  which  nature 
gave  them,  as  if  his  readers  would  not 
have  taken  the  fact  for  granted. 

When  these  simple  people  dressed  at 
all'-'  they  wore  square  mantles  made  of 
the  skin  of  some  animal,  generally  the 
deer.  These  they  wrapped  about  their 
bodies  with  the  hair  inwards  in  winter 
and  outwards  in  summer,  binding  them 
at  the  waist  with  a  sash  of  the  same 
adorned  with  feathers.  Their  legs  and 
feet  were  covered  with  casings  of  like 
material.  These  three  articles  consti- 
tuted the  whole  of  their  serviceable  ap- 
parel. For  the  sake  of  ornament  they 
wore  neclaces  of  wampum  (beads  made 
from  the  pearly  part  of  oyster  shells)  or 
strings  of  hawks'  claws,  A  warrior  of 
much  reputation  could  also  afford  a  neck- 
lace of  enemies'  thumbs  cut  ofi"  after  bat- 
tle, and  strung  together  to  commemorate 
his  prowess.|  Upon  their  heads  they 
wore  a  crown  of  feathers  and  variegated 
snake-skins,  to  which  after  the  opening 
of  traffic  with  the  Europeans  they  added 
bureau-knobs,  brass  buttons,  and  divers 
other  trinkets  for  which  they  could  divine 
no  other  use.  Having  improved  some- 
what i^absurdity  by  their  intercourse 
with  the  whites,  they  began  to  affect  ear- 
rings of  tin  or  copper,  and  many  a  broad 
acre  of  their  hunting  ground  did  they 
part  with  for  such  captivating  baubles. 
They  admired  and  coveted  the  gay  co- 
lors of  the  European  dress  exceedingly; 
and  it  is  likely  that  these  feelings  towards 
the  jackets  worn  by  the  Virginia  people 
who  explored  the  Delaware  in  1633  had 
no  little  share  in  causing  them  to  be  mur- 
dered, as  we  have  before  hinted  upon 
the  Timmerkill.ij:     They  never  however 

*See  Evelin's  Letter,  in  Plantngfenet,  p.  20; 
Campanius,  Book  III.  Chap,  iii.;  and  Hennepin's 
Continuation,  &c.  p.  79. 

t  Campanius,  p.  ]19. 

t  Ante,  Chap.  III.  De  Vries,  after  his  desertion 
of  Fort  Nassau,  stopped  at  Virginia,  where  the  gov- 
ernor told  him  that  "a  small  sloop  with  seven  or 
eight  men  was  sent  to  Delaware  i3ay  in  Septem- 
ber 1633,  to  see  whether  there  was  any  river;  but 
they  were  not  returned,  and  he  could  not  tell  wheth- 
er they  were  lost  or  not.  I  told  him  that  we  had 
seen  Indians  in  the  South  River  with  English  jack- 
ets on,  and  that  we  understood  by  an  Indian  wo- 
man fwho  bid  us  be  upon  our  puard)  that  the  In- 
dians liad  runaway  with  an  English  sloop  in  which 


adopted  the  tight  dress  of  their  civilized 
visiters — their  greatest  improvement  be- 
ing the  substitution  of  square  pieces  of 
cloth,  or  shaggy  woolen  blankets  called 
duflels,  for  their  deer  skins,  and  tasseled 
caps  for  their  variegated  crowns. 

II.  It  has  been  remarked  by  an  exact  ob- 
server of  the  manners  of  the  Indians* 
that  they  ate  just  as  often  as  they  were 
hungry;  which  generally  happened  once 
in  the  morning  and  once  in  the  afternoon. 
Their  viands  consisted  chiefly  of  venison, 
birds  and  fish  ;  which  latter  they  shot 
upon  the  meadows  at  the  reflux  of  the 
tide.f  They  also  ate  bear's  meat,  using 
the  oil  for  butter.  Of  vegetables  they 
had  beans  and  peas ;  and  Daniel  Pasto- 
rius  (a  German  quaker  of  Germantown, 
who  wrote  a  book  often  mentioned  by 
Campanius)^  testifies  that  he  has  seen 
them  repast  with  great  delight  on  a  pom- 
pion  boiled  in  water  without  any  kind  of 
seasoning.  But  their  staff  of  life  was 
maize. ^  This  being  crushed  in  a  hollow 
stone  and  moistened  with  water,  they 
made  into  small  cakes  which  were  rolled 
up  in  corn-leaves  and  baked  in  the  ashes. 
These  cakes,  mixed  with  tobacco  juice, 
were  eaten  in  tramp  and  ambush  to  pre- 
vent hunger  and  quench  thirst.  ||  Some- 
times they  beat  their  corn  and  boiled  it 
in  water;  which  dish  we  have  adopted, 
and  with  it  the  Indian  name  Iionwte.  All 
these  dishes  were  eaten  without  salt, 
which  it  seems  the  savages  only  used, 
if  they  knew  it  at  all,  as  an  antepileptic.f 
Campanius  says'''"'  that  it  "can  be  easily 
proved"  that  the  tribes  on  the  Delaware 
were  cannibals,  and  he  relates  an  inci- 

were  seven  or  eight  Englishmen.  'This  must  be 
our  people,'  sailh  he,  'otherwise  they  would  have 
come  home  long  ago.'  "  De  Vries' Jtmtnal,  trans, 
lated  in  Dn  Simitre's  MSS.  Phil.  Lib,  No,  1413, 
quarto,  p.  23. 

*  Campanius,  p.  121.     t  Ibidem,    t  Page  124, 
§"Praecipnum  illorum  alimenlum  Maiziuin"  is 
the  language  of  De  Lact,Lib.  III.  Chap,  xi,  "equo 
liba  qnoedam  panum  instar  coquunt  ;  pisces,  aves 
atque  ferina." 

II  This  notion  of  the  virtue  of  tobacco  has  been 
adopted  by  some  of  the  whites  ;  but  the  scientific 
consider  it  as  merely  imaginary.  See  Dr.  Wil- 
lick's  CyclnpiBdia,  in  verb.  Tobacco, 

IT  See  Hist,  of  Del.  and  Iroq.  Indians,  p,  72, 
**  Page  122.     See  Hennepin's  Continuation  of 
tliu  New  Discovery,  p.  92, 


16 


THE  APPEARANCE,  CUSTOMS,  CHARACTER  AND  INSTITUTIONS 


dent  on  the  authority  of  his  father,  of  a 
Swede  who  had  shared  with  the  Indi- 
ans a  sumptuous  entertainment  of  broiled, 
boiled  and  hashed  meat,  which  made 
him  sick,  and  which  he  afterwards 
learned  was  the  flesh  of  a  captive  whom 
his  hosts  had  taken  in  war.  But  as 
Thomas  mentions  no  such  thing,  we  dis- 
card it  as  a  sheer  fabrication.  This  ve- 
ritable author  however  testifies  that  such 
as  they  were,  the  repasts  of  the  Indians 
were  well  cooked  by  the  industrious 
squaws. '■'■  The  earth  was  their  table  as 
well  as  their  bed:  "stretched  upon  the 
ground"  says  De  Laetf  "or  upon  strewn 
rushes  they  take  their  food  as  well  as 
their  sleep."  Their  sumptuary  furniture 
consisted  of  calabash  ladles,  muscle- 
shell  spoons,  and  oak  leaf  saucers,  which 
were  only  serviceable  from  the  fact  that 
some  articles  entirely  defied  the  clutch 
of  the  fingers.  These  independent  sons 
of  the  forest  aped  no  good  manners  even 
to  suit  extraordinary  occasions.  If  they 
ate  at  the  house  of  a  Christian  they  in- 
sisted on  mounting  the  table  and  there 
enjoying  their  host's  hospitality  in  a  cross 
legged,  tailor-like  posture. J 

"Their  houses"  says  Thomas^  "are 
mats  or  barks  of  trees  set  on  poles,  barn- 
like, not  higher  than  a  man;  so,  not  ex- 
posed to  winds.  They  lie  upon  reeds  or 
grass.  In  travel  they  lodge  about  a  great 
fire,  with  the  mantle  of  duflels  they  wear 
wrapped  about  them,  and  a  few  boughs 
stuck  around  them."  The  wigwams  in 
West  Jersey  were  for  the  most  part  roofed 
with  chestnut  bark  sewed  together  with 
strings  slit  from  maize  stalks;  and  they 
were  close  and  warm,  insomuch  that  no 
rain  could  penetrate  them.||  The  mats 
enclosing  the  sides  were  made  of  corn- 
leaves.  Their  huts  were  often  large 
enough  for  several  families  ;1[  sometimes 


*  History  of  West  Jersey,  p.  5. 

t  Lib.  III.  Cliap.  xi.:  "  liumi  strati,  aut.  super 
Btoreas  junccas,  somnuin  pariler  atque  cibuin 
capiunt." 

t  Campaniiis,  p.  r2.'>,  from  Pastorius. 

§  History  of  Pcnsilvania,  p.  49. 

II  West  Jersey,  p.  5. 

If  De  Iiact,  who  wrote  in  the  time  of  De  Vries, 
says,  ubi  supra  :"nxas  sedcs  habcant  domiciliu- 
que  ct  tignis  furni  effigic,  corticibus  arborum  (lc> 


built  square  with  oven-like  tops,  but  gen- 
erally conical  with  a  centre-pole,  around 
which  was  an  opening  for  the  escape  of 
smoke.-"-  From  this  pole  or  from  the  roof, 
they  affixed  a  beam  or  hook  to  support — 
their  only  utensil  save  calabashes,  earth- 
en basins  and  cedar  ladles — a  kettle,  un- 
der which  a  fire  was  kept  together  by  a 
rude  hearth  of  stones.  Around  this  they 
spread  their  corn-leaf  mats,  to  answer  at 
once  for  beds,  tables  and  chairs.  Most 
houses  had  two  doors,  which  were  open- 
ed or  shut  according  to  the  requirements 
of  wind  or  weather.  In  time  of  war  the 
wigwams  of  the  whole  tribe  were  built 
together  and  surrounded  with  palisades,-!- 
and  these  fortifications  sometimes  ripen- 
ed into  towns,  The  largest  Indian  vil- 
lage on  the  east  bank  of  the  Deleware 
was  that  already  mentioned!  in  the  land 
of  the  Sanhigans,  on  the  site  of  Trenton; 
south  of  which,  at  Mechansia  Sippus, 
probably  about  Bordentown,  was  another 
whereto  the  Swedes  resorted  for  corn 
and  other  provisions.^  A  considerable 
village  of  Indians  was  also  seated  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Timmerkill,  at  Cooper's 
Point,  II  "where"  says  the  Hon. Richard 
Peters,  in  a  letter  to  Roberts  Vaux,  'ma- 
ny implements  and  utensils  indicating  a 
settlement  had  been  frequently  found  :" 
some  of  which  are  preserved  in  Peale's 
Museum. H  And  it  is  likely  that  the  bu- 
rial grounds  which  have  been  discovered 
upon  so  many  of  our  creeks,  denote  in 
almost  every  instance  the  site  of  some  an- 
cient town. 

As  soon  as  a  child  was  bom,  it  was 
dipped  in  the  river,  especially  in  cold 
weather,""-'-'  for  the  purpose  of  initiating 
it  into  the  ruggednesss  of  savage  life ; 
and  this  treatment  was  repeated  when- 
ever the  father  happened  to  be  in  an  ill 
humor.    The  pappooses  when  very  young 

Bupcr  contccta,  adeo  capacia  ut  pluribus  ^familiis 
sufficinnt." 

*Campaniu9,  p.  123. 

tSee  (he  cut  facing  Campanius,  p.  122. 

t  Ante^Chap.  I.;  and  Campanins,  p.  82. 

^  Ibidem  ;  and  see  the  note  by  Mr.  Dupon- 
ceau. 

II  Barker's  Sketches  of  the  Primitive  Settle- 
ments on  the  Delaware,  p.  52. 

II  See  Trans.  Penn.  His.  Society,  Vol.  I.  p.  87. 

••  Tliomas'  Hist.  Pcnsil.,  p.  48. 


OF  THE  INBiANS  UPON  THE  OBf.AWAnfi. 


17 


were  tied  to  a  board  which  could  convo- 
niently  be  swainj;;  at  tlie  mother's  back, 
or  from  the  limb  of  a  tree.  At  nine 
months  they  fjenerally  found  their  feet, 
and  shortly  afterwards  every  one  could 
swim.  As  soon  as  they  comprehended 
the  meaning  of  words  they  began  to 
acquire  the  little  their  fathers  knew : 
such  as  the  weather  signs  given  by  the 
moon;  the  virtues  of  herbs;  what  kinds 
of  wood  soonest  produce  fire  by  friction ; 
the  difference  in  the  growth  of  trees, 
which  might  enable  them  to  tell  the  north 
from  the  south  when  traveling  at  night ; 
the  manner  of  making  ilint  or  fish-bone 
arrow  heads  and  stone  hatchets ;  of  con- 
triving tackle  for  angling;  of  burning  out 
canoes;  hewing  bowls;  baking  clay  ves- 
sels, in  which  to  boil  their  meat;  and  the 
art  of  plaiting  mats,  ropes  and  baskets  of 
wild  hemp,  or  splits  of  trees;  and  of  coin- 
ing wampum.  They  were  also  taught  to 
obey  the  immemorial  customs  of  their 
fathers ;  such  as  to  perfume  and  paint  the 
corses  of  the  dead,  and  bury  them  in  a 
sitting  posture,  together  with  their  arms, 
utensils  and  some  money;  to  kill  the  rat- 
tle-snake that  gave  no  warning,  but  to 
spare  that  which  did;  not  to  eat  the  hol- 
low of  the  thigh  of  any  thing  killed;  to 
interrupt  no  one  while  speaking;  and  to 
walk,  when  going  in  companies,  one  after 
another,  or,  as  we  still  call  it,  in  Indian 
file. 

In  sickness,  so  long  as  there  was  any 
hope,  the  people  were  very  attentive  to 
each  other;  but  they  considered  it  vain 
trouble  to  take  care  of  desperate  cases. 
Their  chief  remedies  were  roots  and 
herbs,  with  the  various  qualities  of  which 
they  were  much  better  acquainted  than 
we  are.  Of  these  they  generally  made 
a  decoction  in  spring  water,  while  using 
which  they  abstained  from  meat  altoge- 
ther, or  only  ate  that  of  the  female.  Al- 
ways impatient  to  recover,  or  to  die,  if 
treatment  with  herbs  failed  to  produce 
an  efi'ect  they  shut  themselves  up  in  a 
close  cabin,  where  they  were  steamed 
by  the  sprinkling  of  water  upon  red  hot 
stones;  after  which  they  were  hurried  to 
the  nearest  creek  and  therein  immersed. 
A  system  of  quackery  attended  with  the 
same  results  among  its  savage  inventors 

D 


as  among  us  of  the  present  day  who  have 
adopted  it;  for  Smith  plainly  intimates 
that  it  generally  killed  its  subjects,  not- 
withstanding their  hardy  natures.-*^  They 
supposed  that  convulsions  were  caused 
by  necromancy,  of  which  their  doctors 
professed  to  be  perfect  masters.  Tiiey 
could  bewitch  all  save  those  who  ate  salt ; 
and  could  remove  spells  by  a  process  of 
powwowing,  somewhat  similar  to  that 
used  in  animal  magnetism.f 

The  boys  among  the  tribes  on  the  Del- 
aware fished  till  fifteen,  before  they  as- 
sumed the  bow  and  arrow;  after  which, 
as  soon  as  they  had  evidenced  their 
manhood  by  the  return  to  their  father's 
wigwam  of  a  certain  number  of  skins, 
they  were  allowed  to  marry  whichever 
girl  they  could  of  those  who  wore  crowns 
of  red  or  blue  baysj  as  an  advertisement 
of  willingness.  The  male  generally  took 
his  first  wife  when  he  had  reached  six- 
teen; and  the  females  put  on  the  "adver- 
tisement," as  Penn  calls  it,  at  the  age  of 
sixteen,  but  they  remained  with  their 
mothers  for  some  time  after  marriage, 
continuing  to  assist  her  in  hoeing  tho 
ground,  bearing  burdens,  grinding  corn, 
and  the  like  occupations.  The  ceremony 
of  marriage  in  West  Jersey,  according  to 
Smith's  account^,  was  simple  but  signifi- 
cant. In  the  presence  of  the  relatives  the 
man  gave  a  bone  to  his  intended,  and  she 
proflered  him  an  ear  of  maize,  meaning 
thereby  that  the  husband  was  to  pro- 
vide meat  and  the  wife  bread.  From 
the  era  of  marriage,  hunting  and  fishing 
were  their  business,  and  war  their 
amusement.  If  they  survived  the  latter, 
their  hardy  education,  active  pursuits 
and  simple  diet  generally  prolonged  their 
life  to  three  score  and  ten  or  four  score 
years ;  and  when  at  last  they  took  their 
departure  io  the  spirit  land,  they  felt 
happy  in  believing  that  their  deeds  would 
be  rehearsed  around  many  a  council  fire 
of  their  descendants,  and  that  wherever 
their  ciiildren  went,  their  bones  would 
accompany  them,    their  graves  be  pre- 

*  See  Historical  Collections  of  N.  Jersey,  p.  53, 
t  Hist,  of  Del.  and  Iroq.  Indians,  p.  72. 
t  Penn's  letter,  in  niome,  p.  99 ;  Smith,  in  Nevr 
Jcieey  Hist.  Col.,  p.  .53  ;  and  Thouiae,  ubi  sirpra. 
§  Hist.  Col.  oi'  X.  Jersey,  p.  54. 


18 


THB  APPEARANCE,  CUSTOMS,  OHABACTER  AND  INSTITUTIONS 


served,  and  their  memory  fondly  cher- 
ished, though  their  names  might  not  be 
breathed."-'" 

III.  This  tender  regard  which  the  In- 
dians had  lor  their  departed  friends,  is 
but  one  of  the  many  admirable  traits 
which  adorned  their  character  before  it 
was  corrupted  by  intercourse  with  the 
Europeans.  Bravery,  generosity,  firm- 
ness and  an  indomitable  love  for  liberty 
were  virtues  which  the  tribes  on  the 
Delaware  shared  with  their  whole  race  ; 
but  in  shrewdness,  integrity,  depth  of 
love,  and  susceptibtlity  to  the  finer 
feelings  of  human  nature  they  were  far 
ahead  of  their  brethren.  Campaniusf 
pronounces  them  "the  most  sensible  na- 
tion in  all  America;"  and  William  Penn 
says  J  "He  will  deserve  the  name  of  wise 
that  outwits  them  in  any  treaty  about  a 
thing  they  understand."  Yet  they  were 
straight-forward  in  their  mode  of  man- 
aging afl'airs,  and  despised  bad  faith  so 
lieartily  that  Thomas^  says  of  the  West 
Jersey  savages:  "If  any  go  from  their 
first  offer  or  bargain  with  them  it  will  be 
very  difficult  ibr  that  party  to  get  any 
dealings  with  them  any  more,  or  to  have 
any  further  converse  with  them."  The 
same  author,||  after  attributing  to  the  In- 
<Iian  women  of  West  Jersey  the  qualities 
of  neatness,  cleanliness,  industry  and 
injjenuity,  crowns  all  by  saying,  "Their 
young  maids  are  naturally  very  modest 
and  shame-faced;  and  their  young  wo- 
men when  newly  married  are  very  nice 
and  shy,  and  will  not  suffer  the  men  to 
talk  ol'  any  immodest  or  lascivious  mat- 
ters." 

In  itself,  each  tribe  was  an  example  of 
harmony  and  love.f  If  one  received  a 
present,  it  often  begged  acceptance  at  the 
liands  of  all  his  clansmen,  and  returned 
at  last  to  his  own  a  double  gift.  Even 
after  the  lessons  of  selfishness  taught 

•  Thomaa'  Wes^t  Jersey,  pp.  .3  and  6.  The 
graves  were  usually  dug  by  the  old  women  ;  and 
in  early  times  the  Delawares  were  buried  in  bark 
coffins.  After  death  a  person's  name  was  never 
mentioned.  Ilisl.  of  Del.  and  Iroq.  Indians,  pp. 
n.-iand  IIG. 

t  Parens.  t  Blome,  p,  103. 

^  vVci«t  Jersey,  p.  G.  ||  Puge  5. 

f  CarnpuniuA,  p.  llf'. 


them  by  the  Europeans,  they  retained  the 
traits  of  liberality  and  hospitality  in  an 
eminent  degree."-  They  spoke  little,  but 
fervently,  elegantly ,t  and  what  is  more, 
strictly  to  the  purpose :  whence  they  al- 
ways considered  it  impertinent  to  be 
asked  twice  their  judgment  about  one 
thing. J  Their  contempt  for  verbosity  is 
illustrated  by  the  Swedish  professor, 
Kalm,  who  paid  a  visit  to  his  country- 
men on  the  Delaware  about  a  century 
ago.  He  tells  us\)  that  on  one  occasion 
an  Indian  coming  into  the  Swedish 
church  at  Racoon  during  a  sermon, 
looked  about  him,  and  after  hearkening 
awhile  to  the  preacher,  exclaimed — 
"Here  is  a  great  deal  of  prattle  and  non- 
sense, but  neither  brandy  nor  cyder!" 
and  went  out  again. ||  Remarkable  for 
ecpjanimity  in  all  things,  these  people 
avoided  on  the  one  hand  the  boisterous 
mirth,  and  on  the  other  the  moping  gloom 
of  their  Christian  visiters.  Subject  to  no 
wants  themselves  which  the  earth,  the 
woods  and  the  rivers,  their  ever  open 
store-houses,  could  not  readily  supply, 
they  wondered  at  their  civilized  neigh- 
bors for  providing  for  the  future  as  if 
they  were  to  live  forever.  We  say  that 
they  wondered  at  it;  because  even  their 
perception  of  so  great  an  absurdity  as 
the  sacrifice  of  happiness  itself  to  obtain 
the  doubtful  means  of  happiness,  could 
not  melt  them  into  a  jesting  humor. 
They  never  indulged  in  jokes  or  ridicule, 
but  despised  alike  the  levity  of  a  smile 
and  the  weakness  of  a  tear. 

IV.  We  have  already  said  that  the 
Delawares  claimed  for  themselves  the 
title  of  Original  People.  According  to 
their  universally  received  legend,  they 
had  in  remote  times  lived  about  the  Mis- 

*  "If  throe  or  four  of  them  come  into  a  Chris- 
tian's House,  and  the  master  of  it  happen  to  give 
one  of  them  victuals  and  none  to  the  rest,  he  will 
divide  it  into  equal  shares  among  them;  and  they 
arc  also  very  kind  and  civil  lo  any  of  the  Chris- 
tians, for  I  myself  have  had  victuals  out  by  them 
in  their  cabins  before  they  took  any  for  ihcui- 
6«lvei»."     Thomas'  West  Jersey,  p.  4. 

t  Blome,  p.  103.  t  Thomas,  ubi  supra. 

^  Kalni's  Travels,  Vol.  II.  p.  IH'. 

II  From  this  anecdote  it  is  highly  probable  arose 
the  proverb  "All  talk  and  no  cider,"  which  i« 
BO  current  in  West  Jersey. 


OF  THE  INDIANS  UPON  THl  DELAWARE. 


19 


sissippi,  whence  they  fought  their  way 
through  opposins:  tribes,  to  the  vacant 
hunting  grounds  along  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board.-^ Here,  exempt  lor  a  long  period 
from  serious  wars,  and  opposed  to  all  in- 
novation from  a  vain  pride  in  their  own 
antiquity,  they  retained  their  institutions 
unaltered  from  age  to  age.  Of  these 
institutions,  whether  social,  political,  or 
religious,  it  is  now  our  purpose  to  take 
a  brief  view,  beginning  with  the  social 
compacts  of  language,  marriage  and  pro- 
perty. 

The  various  tribes  of  the  Delaware 
nation  spoke  different  dialects;  but  the 
variances  were  seldom  so  great  as  to 
forbid  intercommunication.  De  Laet  has 
preserved!  a  vocabulary  of  the  tongue 
used  by  the  Sanhigans,  or  Fire  Workers, 
about  the  falls  of  Trenton ;  and  Campan- 
ius  another,  J  of  that  used  about  Tinicum, 
which  in  many  words  precisely  coincide. 
According  to  Thomas,  ^\  the  Lennappi 
language  was  sweet,  lofty  and  senten- 
tious— one  word  serving  for  three  in 
English;  and  William  Penn  says||  that 
no  tongue  spoken  in  Europe  could  sur- 
pass it  in  melody  and  grandeur  of  accent 
and  emphasis;  to  prove  which  he  cites, 
among  other  illustrations,  the  name  of 
the  Rancocas  and  of  Tamane,  a  chief 
who  died  on  Pea  Shore,  a  mile  or  so 
above  Cooper's  Point.  Like  other  Indi- 
ans the  Delawares  counted  by  tens ;  and 
they  could  go  in  this  manner  up  to  thou- 
sands, without  pointing  to  their  hair,  the 
sand  or  the  stars  to  show  that  they  had 
lost  themselves  in  the  infinite  ;  as  their 
less  cultivated  neighbors  were  generally 
obliged  to  do  when  they  had  reached 
four  or  five  tens.  It  has  been  saidf  that 
the  eighteenth  letter  of  our  alphabet  was 
never  pronounced  by  the  Americans;  but 
this  notion  is  controverted  by  innumera- 
ble Indian  names  which  still  exist,  and 

*  This  leg^end  receives  great  support  from  the 
fact  that  the  great  father  of  waters  bears  a  name 
compounded  of  two  Lennappi  words;  Lumaaes, 
fish,  and  Sippussing,  river.  See  Campanius,  pp. 
148  and  149. 

t  Novus  Orbis,  p.  75.  I  Book  I V. 

^  Hist.  West  Jersey,  p.  7  ;  and  of  Pensil.,  p.  47. 

II  In  the  letter  of  Aug.  16th  1G83. 

V  See  (he  nolo  from  Smith  in  New  Jersey  Ilisl. 
Coll.,  p.  52. 


by  the  dialects  spoken  by  the  western 
tribes  at  the  present  day,  who  certainly 
do  articulate  it,  though  with  the  same 
harsh  aspiration  that  marked  the  Greek 
r/io.  Campanius  has  endeavored  to  de- 
duce the  Lennappi  language  from  the 
Hebrew;  but  the  learned  Duponceau  con- 
siders the  attempt  a  complete  failure,- 
not  even  worth  translating.  Had  he  said 
it  was  a  language  founded  on  nature  and 
often  carrying  its  signification  in  its  very 
sound, t  he  would  probably  have  been 
nearer  the  truth. 

As  to  the  institution  of  marriage  among 
the  tribes  on  the  Delaware,  suffice  it  to 
say  that  bigamy,  though  allowed,  was  sel- 
dom practised. I  Except,  perhaps,  the 
sakimas,  they  had  but  one  wife  at  a  time ; 
but  her  they  assumed  the  right  of  repu- 
diating whenever  they  saw  fit.  When 
this  right  was  exercised,  it  was. the  law 
in  West  Jersey  that  if  the  parties  left 
children  they  themselves  should  chooso 
which  parent  they  should  follow;  biitf  if 
they  disagreed,  the  father  was  to  decide 
the  matter.  The  Indian  wife  however 
had  too  lofty  a  conception  of  the  nup- 
tial tie,  to  give  her  husband  just  cause  for 
spurning  her,  or  to  retaliate  upon  him 
when  unjustly  spurned.  Ofthis  William 
Penn  has  left  us  an  affecting  proof.  "A 
tragical  incident"  says  heo>  "fell  out 
since  I  came  into  the  country.  A  king's 
daughter,  thinking  herself  slighted  by 
her  husband  in  suffering  arttther  woman 

*  See  the  translator's  remarks,  in  Campanius  p. 
115.  Closer  analogies  liian  those  upon  which  the 
Swede  depended  for  the  establishment  of  his 
theory  miglit  be  found  to  prove  the  Delawares  to 
have  derived  their  language  from  the  Greeks,  the 
Romans  or  even  the  S;ixons.  Thus  an  ingenious 
philologist  might  easily  show  that  the  Indian 
word  for  breast  or  chest,  ihorai,  comes  like  our 
thorax  from  the  Greek  bce^st^;  and  chickt)  the  Len- 
nappi for  soul,  could,  with  equal  ease  be  proved  to 
be  only  a  corruption  of  the  Greek  4";^-  From 
the  Latin  panis  we  might  derive  the  Indian  p«np, 
bread,  and  from  the  Saxon  /ioer/,  doer,  the  Indian 
harlo,  which  means  the  same  thing.  Thesa 
instances  show  bow  ridiculous  is  the  attempt  to 
trace  the  origin  of  any  language  by  mem  acci- 
dental coincidences. 

tHow  expressive,  for  instance,  of  the  livt^ly 
chirp  of  the  tit  is  its  Indian  name  qitinkqiiink, 
and  how  significant  of  the  harsh  scream  of  the 
goose  the  word  rnhnak. 

}  Campanius,  12G.  §  Blome,  p.  91. 


?0 


niK  APPEAHANCl,     CU«lTO.M#,   CHARACTER  A?IU  I?(gnTUT««M8 


to  We  down  between  thoni,  roso  up,  went 
out,  pluckt  a  root  out  of  ihe  jjround, 
and  cat  it;  upon  which  she  immediately 
died!" 

Tlio  third  institution  wliich  we  shall 
notice,  that  of  properly,  murks  a  hi°;her 
*tlate  of  association  than  is  implied  by 
either  of  the  compacts  of  which  we  have 
just  spoken.  No  people  can  exist  long 
without  lan^uaj^e  and  marriage ;  but  they 
may  exist  a  great  while  without  learning 
the  advantages  of  an  exclusive,  inviola- 
ble, transiiiissable  right  of  property  in 
the  soil.  Vet  such  a  property  the  Indi- 
ans on  the  Delaware  undoubtedly  knew. 
Each  tribe  held  a  determinate  tract  of 
land,  generally  lying  between  two  creeks, 
to  which  they  had  as  perfect  a  title  as 
to  the  very  duffels  they  wore.  In  the 
summer  they  frequented  the  river  shore 
of  the  country,  for  the  purpose  of  fish- 
ing; and  in  the  winter  retired  to  the 
headwaters  of  their  creeks  to  take  deer 
and  other  game;  but  their  temporary 
desertion  of  either  part  was  never  re- 
garded by  themselves  or  others  as  a 
waiver  of  their  right.  As  the  title  of  a 
whole  tribe  to  a  certain  territory  was  thus 
acknowledged  against  all  the  world,  so 
individuals  sometimes  acquired  by  build- 
ing and  culture  an  efjually  indefeasible 
right  to  particular  spots,  against  their 
own  clansmen;  and  the  wigwam  and 
corn-field,  on  the  death  of  their  owner, 
appear  to  have  been  subject  to  descent 
or  devise  as  completely  as  with  any  peo- 
ple in  the  world.  As  for  property  in 
chattels,  so  highly  was  it  venerated  that 
if  an  Indian  found  a  piece  of  venison  in 
the  woods,  he  would  not  touch  it,  though 
never  so  hungry,  unless  he  saw  by  cer- 
tain signs  that  it  had  been  left  there  for 
the  use  of  the  public.  They  had  inven- 
ted, it  is  well  known,  an  universal  re- 
presentation of  property,  called  ivam. 
pum,  which  we  have  before  described. 
The  value  of  this  wampum  was  regulated 
by  its  color.  In  New  Sweden,  a  white 
bead  was  worth  the  sixth  of  a  stiver ;  a 
redone,  the  third ;  and  a  brown  one  still 
more.  In  wholesale  transactions  a  fath- 
om of  wampum  passed  current  for  five 
Dijtr.h  ;juilders.  They  always  carried  a 
erring  of  money  about  their  necks,  and 


generally  left  this  world  with  a  bribe  for 
the  next.  Their  mode  of  testing  the 
standard  of  wampum  was  to  rub  the 
whole  string  upon  their  noses;  consider- 
ing it  good  if  they  found  it  to  glide 
smoothly,  but  condemning  it  if  other- 
wise.-' 

With  reference  to  the  political  institu- 
tions of  the  tribes  on  the  Delaware  there 
is  a  difference  of  opinion  among  the  au- 
thors upon  whom  we  depend.  De  Laet 
intimates!  that  they  had  no  form  of  go- 
vernment save  a  patriarchy:  William 
Penn,  Thomas  and  othersj  agree  that 
each  tribe  had  an  hereditary  monarchy; 
while  Lewis  Evans  is  very  positive  that 
they  were  strict  rejniblicans.  "The  pol- 
troons" says  the  latter  writer^  "picked 
up  in  America  by  several  colonies,  and 
sent  over  to  England  for  Indian  kings, 
and  there  publicly  carest  as  men  of 
consequence,  would  induce  one  to  think 
that  our  savages  had  monarchial  govern- 
ments; but  nothing  is  so  opposite  to  the 
truth  and  fact.  They  are  all  republicans 
in  the  strictest  sense.  Every  nation  has 
a  general  council,  whither  deputies  are 
sent  from  every  village ;  and,  by  a  major- 
ity of  votes,  every  thing  is  determined 
there."  We  can  fully  credit  this  de- 
scription of  the  national  government  of 
the  Indians  without  rejecting  the  testi- 
mony either  of  De  Laet  or  Penn;  for 
each  nation  was  divided  into  tribes, 
and  each  tribe  into  families;  so  that  the 
Indians  might  have  been,  and  doubtless 
were,  subject  to  a  threefold  government. 
Firstly — 

-"  hy  nature  crown'd,  each  Patriarch  sate 


King,  priest,  and  parent  of  his  growing  state;"!! 
and  upon  him  fell  the  duty  of  settling 

•  Campaniiis,  p.  132. 

+  Liber  III.  chap.  11.  "Nulla  ipsi«  pnlilB  for- 
ma prcEtcrquam  qnod  prBefectos  suos  habeant  quos 
Sagamoa  vocant  qui  fere  sunt  familinrum  princi- 
pes;  nam  raro  cognationis  unius  ]in)itcB  exce- 
dunt." 

I  Soc  Pcnn's  letter  above  referred  to;  Thoma*' 
Peniisil.,  p.  50  ;  Sm'th,  quoted  in  His.  Col.  p.  64; 
andt^ampanius,  p.  133. 

6  In  a  letter  to  Rich.  Peters,  dated  17(3.  Da 
Simitre's  MSS.,  No. 965  Fhil.  l.\b. 

II  Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  v.  ilo. 


Of  -niB  INDIANS  UPO»  THB  dklawahe. 


SI 


the  (Jisputee,  and  defending  the  rights  of 
his  immediate  household.  Next  was  tiie 
Sakima,  who  decided  disputes  involving 
different  families,  led  the  whole  tribe  in 
battle,  and  acted  as  their  spokesman  in 
council.  This  office  was  hereditary,  but 
in  a  peculiar  manner;  for  to  the  present 
king  succeeded  firstly  his  brother  ex 
parte  materna;  nextly,  the  sons  of  his 
sister,  or  if  there  were  none  of  these, 
the  sons  of  his  sister's  daughters;  the 
Salic  law  and  the  law  of  primogeniture 
prevailing  in  all  cases.  When  a  quarrel 
with  a  foreign  people  or  some  other  na- 
tional matter  made  a  confederation  of  all 
the  tribes  necessary,  a  general  council 
W'as  held,  of  deputies  from  the  different 
villages.  In  general  this  council  only 
decided  the  question  of  war  or  peace, 
leaving  each  tribe  to  support  the  decree 
if  it  was  for  war,  under  what  chief  and 
with  what  number  of  men  they  pleased ; 
but  sometimes  a  Great  Chief  was  chosen 
to  command  the  united  forces. 

In  time  of  peace  the  duty  of  govern- 
ing among  the  savages  was  by  no  means 
an  onerous  one;  the  chiefs  suffered  their 
subjects  in  most  cases  to  enforce  the  law 
of  retaliation  as  they  saw  fit.  This 
Evans  observes;  yet  he  tells  us  that  when 
the  ruler  did  interpose  his  authority  over 
his  fierce  subjects,  "no  officer  on  earth 
is  more  strictly  obeyed — so  strong  are 
they  influenced  by  the  principle  of  doing 
their  duty."  And  to  the  same  effect 
writes  Penn  r"'  '"Tis  admirable  to  con- 
sider how  powerful  the  kings  are,  and 
how  they  move  by  the  breath  of  the  peo- 
ple;" which  mutuality  of  respect  our 
great  author  himself  sought  to  secure  in 
the  political  relations  of  the  government 
he  had  founded.f 

The  savages  of  whom  we  are  speak- 
ing had  few  laws  defining  and  protecting 
their  natural,  political  or  social  rights. 

»BIome,  p.  102. 

t  "To  support  power  in  reverence  with  the  peo- 
pie,  and  to  secure  the  people  from  the  abuse  of 
power,  that  they  may  be  free  by  their  just  obe- 
diance,  and  the  magistrates  honorable  by  their  just 
administration,  are  the  great  ends  of  all  govern- 
ments." Pcnn's  DiBcourse,  preliminary  to  hiB 
Concessions. 


When  therefore  any  individual  felt  him- 
self wronged  he  generally  retaliated 
upon  the  offender;  "each  one,"  accord- 
ing to  Evans  "being  judge  and  execu- 
tioner in  his  own  case."^^  If  however 
the  lex  talionis  was  waived,  immemorial 
custom  had  in  some  instances  provided  a 
fixed  compensation  for  the  injury  done* 
"Even  murder"  says  Smitht  "might  be 
atoned  for  by  feasts  and  presents  of  wam- 
pum; the  price  of  a  woman  killed  being 
double,  and  the  reason  because  she  bred 
children,  which  men  could  not  do;"  in 
which  mode  of  atonement  th»y  resem- 
bled the  Germans  as  described  by  Ta- 
citus.J  The  conduct  of  one  tribe  to- 
wards another  was  also  regulated  by 
the  simple  law  of  nature ;  or,  in  case  that 
was  supposed  to  be  infringed,  by  the  law 
of  retaliation.  When  however  a  treaty 
had]  been  made  and  ratified  by  the  in- 
terchange of  belts  of  wampum,  they  ad- 
hered honorably  to  its  terms;  of  which 
a  curious  instance  is  found  in  the  case  of 
the  Delaware  nation,  who,  in  a  confer- 
ence with  the  Iroquois,  negotiated  them- 
selves into  the  character  of  women,  and 
bore  their  humiliation  for  a  long  time 
without  complaint.^ 

On  public  occasions  "the  king"  says 
Fenn||  "sits  in  the  middle  of  a  half  moon 
and  hath  his  council ;  the  old  and  wise 
on  each  hand,  and  behind  them  at  a  lit- 
tle distance  sit  the  younger  fry  in  the 
same  figure."  If  the  business  on  hand 
was  the  making  of  a  treaty,  each  orator 
stood  up  before  the  opposite  king,  and 
closed  every  period  with  a  present  of 
wampum,  to  be  retained  as  a  perpetual 
memorial   of  his   stipulations.ll      After 

*  In  the  letter  above  cited. 

t  Hist,  of  N.  Jersey.  See  Barber  «t  Howe,  p.  55. 

tDe  Mor.  Ger.,  XII.  s.  12.  "Equorum  et  pe- 
corum  numero  convicti  mulctantur."  One  of 
the  most  singular  laws  of  the  Indinns  was  that 
requiring  each  man  whose  wife  had  died,  to  make 
an  offering  to  her  kindred  for  atonement,  and  lib- 
ety  to  marry  again.     Blome,  p.  91. 

§  D^  Wilt  Clinton's  Address,  1811,  p.  52. 

II  Btome,  p.  102. 

^  See  De  Vries'  account  of  his  treaty  with  the 
Manteses  and  other  tribes  before  Fort  Nassau,  on 
the  8th  of  Jan.  1632-  New  York  Hist.  Coll., 
New  Ser.  I.  p.  253. 


29 


rUB  APPEARANCE,  ETC.  OF  THE  INDIABTS  UPON  THE  DELAWARE. 


the  terms  were  settled  upon,  the  whole 
treaty  was  confirmeiJ  by  passinj^  around 
the  cakimet,  out  of  which  each  one  pres- 
ent took  a  whiff. 

Of  the  relif^ion  of  the  Indians,  an  ex- 
clamation of  De  Laot  would  persuade  us 
there  was  little  to  be  said :  "NuUus  ipsis 
religionis  sensus,  nulla  Dei  veneratio  !" 
Yet  their  irrelijjion  arose  not  from  the 
want  of  a  belief  in  a  God,  (for  they  had 
an  Horitt  JlJanitto  to  whom  they  as- 
cribed all  perfection)  but  from  a  notion, 
as  Van  Der  Donck  testifies, ■--■  that  God 
himself  "takes  no  concern  in  the  com- 
mon affairs  of  the  world ;  nor  does  he 
meddle  with  the  same,  except  that  he 
has  ordered  the  devil  to  take  care  of 
those  matters."  The  Devil,  or  Ma- 
nunckus  Manitto,  the  deprecation  of 
whose  wrath  was  the  main  object  qf  their 
worship,  they  be^au  to  believe  in  later 
days  was  made  only  for  the  white  peo- 
ple; of  which  doctrine  we  are  told  they 
all  hij^hly  approved. f  This  evil  spirit, 
according  to  their  belief,  inflicted  all  the 
harm  of  which  he  was  capable  in  life. 
They  had  an  idea  of  heaven,  but  not  of 
hell.  To  "safer  worlds  in  depths  of 
woods  embraced"  they  hoped  all  good 
Indians  were  suffered  after  death  to  go  ; 
while  the  wicked  portion  were  kept  at 
a  distance,  and  only  allowed  to  look 
upon  the  pleasures  which  the  others  en- 
joyed. 

The  West  Jersey  tribes  endeavored  to 
conceal  their  Devil  adoration  as  much  as 
possible  from  the  whites; J  but  Penn  ap- 
pears to  have  observed  closely  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  was  performed.  "Their 
worship"  says  he^  "consists  of  two 
parts;  sacrifice,  and  canticle.  Their 
•sacrifice  is  their  first  fruits — the  first  and 
fattest  buck  they  kill  goes  to  the  fire,|| 
where  he  is  all  burnt  with  a  mournful 
ditty  of  him  that  performs  the  ceremony, 

*  In  his  New  Netherlands,  New  York  Hist 
Coll-,  Second  Scries  I.  p.  216. 

+  Hist.  Del.  and  Iroq.  Ind.,  p.  G5. 

X  Smith  in  Barber  and  Howe,  p.  55.] 

f)  Blome,  p.  101. 

II  These  !>acrificc8  were  made  on  an  altar  of 
Iwrlvc  stones.  Thnmns'  Pensil.,  p.  2;  Campanius 
p.  140  ;  ThoniaB'  West  Jersey,  p.  2. 


but  with  such  mar\-elIous  fervency  and 
labor  of  body  that  he  will  even  sweat  to 
a  foam."  They  broke  no  bones  of  the 
animals  they  eat,  but  gathered  them  up 
and  buried  them  very  carefully  in  a  heap; 
and  these  bones  in  the  time  of  Smith 
were  often  ploughed  up.^^  "The  other 
part  of  their  cantico"  continues  Penti 
is  performed  by  round  dances,  sometimes 
words,  sometimes  songs,  then  shouts; 
two  being  in  the  middle,  that  begin,  and 
by  singing  and  drumming  on  a  board  di- 
rect the  chorus.f  Their  postures  in  the 
dance  are  very  antick  and  differing,  but 
all  keep  measure.  This  is  done  with 
equal  earnestness  and  labor,  but  with 
great  appearance  of  joy." 

Once  a  year,  at  the  gathering  of  the 
maize  crop,  they  had  semi-religious  and 
semi-social  festivals,  to  which  all  were 
free  to  come  who  could  pay  a  small  sum 
of  wampum.  At  one  of  these  entertain- 
ments which  Penn  attended,  they  served 
up  twenty  bucks,  with  hot  cakes  com- 
pounded of  new  corn,  wheat  and  beans 
to  correspond.  After  eating  these  they 
fell,  as  was  usual  after  the  performance 
of  every  great  feat,  to  dancing; J  which 
doubtless  the  author  of  "No  Cross,  no 
Crown,"  thought  quite  a  superfluity,^ 
even  in  savages. 

Naturally  incredulous,  and  prejudiced 
against  every  thing  Christian  by  the  early 

*See  Smith,  ubi  sup. 

t  The  only  musical  instruments  used  by  the  Bei- 
vages  were  the  tamborine  here  mentioned,  and 
pipes  made  of  reed.  De  Vries  mentions  the  lat- 
ter in  his  account  of  the  strategy  of  the  Timmer- 
kill.  On  the  6th  Jan.  1632  (old  style)  he  "weighed 
anchor,  and  lay  before  the  Timmerkill  prepared 
fully  to  see  what  the  Indians  intended  to  do.  A 
parcel  of  them  now  approached  the  boat,  offering 
some  skins  of  beavers,  entering  as  many  as  forty- 
two  or  forty-three  into  the  yacht.  Some  of  (hem 
befran  to  play  on  reeds,  so  as  to  give  no  suspicion  ; 
but  wc  being  only  seven  in  the  yacht,  were  on 
our  guard;  and  when  wc  judged  that  it  was  liigh 
enough  we  ordered  them  all  on  shore  or  wc  would 
fire  at  them."  New  York  Hisl.  Coll.,  New  Ser. 
Vol.  I.  p.  253. 

t  Blome,  p.  101. 

§  Penn,  in  his  No  Cross,  no  Crown,  1669,  p.  86, 
quotes  with  approb;ition  this  remark  from  some 
old  author :  "As  many  paces  as  a  man  maketh  in 
dancing,  so  many  paces  doth  he  make  to  go  to 
hoU." 


TRB  ALBION  KNIGHTS  OP  THB  CONTERSIOW. 


fraud  and  tyranny  of  the  Dutch,  the  In- 
dians of  the  Delaware  could  never  be 
induced  to  relinquish  their  Devil-wor- 
ship, and  adopt  the  religion  of  Christ. 
They  were  far  more  stubbornly  attached 
to  their  idolatry  than  some  of  the  north- 
ern Americans;  for  so  easily  did  the  lat- 
ter fall  into  the  fashion  of  Christianity, 
that  Father  Hennepin  has  devoted  one 
entire  chapter  of  his  book-to  "the  great 
difficulty  met  with  in  keeping  the  salva- 
ges from  praying  by  rote."  The  tribes 
under  our  notice,  upon  the  contrary,  al- 
ways scorned  even  a  seeming  compliance 
with  the  forms  of  Christian  worship. 
They  laughed  at  the  idea  of  a  heaven  in 
which  men  were  neither  to  eat  nor  drink  ; 
and  politeness  only  restrained  them  from 
insulting  the  missionaries,  who  told  them 
of  miracles.f  Yet  the  engineer  Lind- 
strom  has  recorded  a  legend  prevalent 
among  the  savages  on  the  Delaware, 
Avhich  seems  to  prove  conclusively  that 
they  had  heard  of  the  Messiah  long  be- 
fore the  Columbian  discovery:};  and  im- 
memorable  authorities  warrant  us  in 
believing  that  similar  legends  obtained 
throughout  the  chief  part  of  the  new 
world. 

Such  is  an  imperfect  sketch  of  the 
race  once  inhabiting  the  banks  of  the 
Delaware.  In  tracing  their  origin  the 
learned  are  confounded;  in  contemplat- 
ing their  end  the  hardiest  might  melt  to 
tears.  The  brief  glimmer  of  light  which 
has  fallen  on  their  history,  shows  us 
much  that  is  worthy  of  admiration,  and 
but  few  faults  for  which  their  European 
oppressors  are  not  responsible,  Yet 
the  philosopher  will  recognise  in  the 
vicissitudes  of  which  they  have  been  the 
subject,  the  hand  of  an  all  wise  Provi- 
dence still  working  for  the  greatest  ag- 
gregate good  of  mankind. 


*  Chap.  XIV.  of  the  Continuation,  &.c. 
'  t  "If  a  miracle  is  related  to  have  been  performed 
in  confirmation  of  any  proposition  advanced,  'lis 
nothing  but  their  mere  good  breeding  will  make 
them  civil ;  for  they  truly  take  it,  you  do  but  try 
their  credulity  with  swingers."  Evan's  Letter  in 
Du  Si  mitre's  MSS. 

tSee  Lindstrom's  Description  in  French  in  the 
Lib.  of  Am.  Phil.  Soc,  No.  173  ;  and  CampaniuB, 
p.  139, 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  ALBION  KNIGHTS  OF  THE  CONTERSION. 


Ilium  in  Italiam  portans. 

VlKG.  ^n.  /.  1 


It  must  not  be  inferred  from  the  silence 
of  the  foregoing  chapters  respecting  the 
English,  that  they  had  passively  beheld 
the  intrusions  of  the  Dutch  and  Swedes 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Delaware.  Our 
ance^ors  had  never  acknowledged  that 
the  discovery  of  Delaware  Bay  by  Hud- 
son (although  that  event  clearly  preceded 
the  voyage  of  Lord  De  La  War)-  gave 
the  Dutch  any  shadow  of  right  against 
the  possession  which  John  and  Sebastian 
Cabot  took  of  the  whole  country  from 
Newfo||ndland  to  Florida,  as  early  as 
1597,  in  the  name  of  Henry  VII.,  king 
of  England.  And  for  the  Swedish  claim, 
which  had  no  decent  pretext  at  all  to 
support  it,  they  entertained  even  less 
regard  than  for  the  pretensions  of  the 
States  of  Holland. 

Between  1606  and  1623  the  soil  of 
New  Jersey  had  been  repeatedly  granted 
by  the  English  crown.  To  wit ;  in  the  year 
first  mentioned,  the  vSouth  Virginia  or 
London  Company  obtained  their  patent 
for  the  land  between  the  thirty-iburth 
and  forty-first  degrees  of  north  latitude  ; 
a  part  of  which  was  by  carelessness  also 
given  about  the  same  time  to  the  Ply- 
mouth Company,  whose  charter  author- 
ized the  occupancy  of  any  land  between 
the  thirty-eighth  and  forty-fifth  degrees.! 
All  our  state,  except  a  triangle  whose 
apex  was  near  the  junction  of  New  Jer- 
sey with  New  York  on  the  Hudson,  was 
thus  subject  to  two  claims,  the  validity 
of  which  must  be  determined  by  the  re- 
lation in  point  of  time  of  the  conflicting 
grants.  In  1609,  by  a  new  charter  to 
the  Virginia  Company,  the  southern  grant 
was  reduced  to  a  belt  extending  two 
hundred  miles  north  and  south  from  Point 
Comfort;  and  in  1620  the  great  grant 

«  Doufflas'  Summary,  VoT.  IL  p.  390;  DuSim- 
itre's  MS.S.,  Phil.  Lib.  No.  1413  quarto;  and  Juet'» 
Jo4irnaI,  New  York  Hist.  Col,  New  Ser.I.p.320.. 

t  See  Goodrich's  United  Stales,  p.  45. 


S4 


THl  ALBIOtf  KXIQHT8  Of  TUB  OONrBMlOIf. 


was  made  to  Lenox  and  Gorf^^es  of  the 
land  between  the  fortieth  and  forty- 
eighth  degrees  of  latitude.  *'From  this 
grant  by  patent  under  the  great  seal  from 
king  James  of  blessed  memory"  says 
Hubbard^*^  "all  other  charts  and  grants 
of  land  from  Pemmaquin  to  Delaware 
Bay  along  the  sea  coast  derive  their 
pedigree."  But  this  is  not  strictly  true ; 
for  the  fortieth  degree  of  north  latitude, 
which  bounded  this  grant  on  the  south, 
crosses  the  Delaware  three  miles  above 
Philadelphia ;  so  that  for  some  years  after 
1620,  a  part  of  the  land  afterwards  form- 
ing old  Gloucester  lay  in  New  England, 
and  a  part,  together  with  all  south  Jersey, 
"without  it.  The  last  portion  had,  by  the 
restriction  in  the  Virginia  charter  just  re- 
ferred to,  reverted  in  1609  to  the  crown 
of  England;  where  it  remained  ui%iffected 
by  the  grant  of  Maryland  in  1623  to  Cal- 
vert Lord  Baltimore,  and  undisposed  of 
until  about  1631, t  when  Charles  I.  made 
the  grant  to  Sir  Edmund  Plotden,  of 
which  we  are  now  to  speak. 


KARL  PLOYDEN. 

[Copied  from  Plantugenel's  New  Albion.] 

Of  this  gentleman,  in  whose  history, 
as  he  was  the  first  Englishman  who  set- 
tied  in  New  Jersey,  no  particular  would 
lack  interest,  but  little  is  known,  except 
that  he  was  of  an  ancient  family,  who 
derived  their  name  from  their  bravery 
in  resisting  the  Danes, -J  that  he  had 
served  king  James  I.  in  Ireland,  and  that 
he  was  a  rank  monarchist.     Forseeing 

•  Narrative  of  Troubles  with  the  Indians,  1676. 
p.  2. 

t  Barclay's  Sketches,  p.  S3. 
}  Plantagcnvt,  p.  14. 


prol)ably  the  Rtf)rm  which  was  brooding 
over  England,  and  anxious  to  provide  an 
escape  from  the  terrors  it  denounced 
against  all  I'riends  of  royalty,  he  peti- 
tioned Charles  ].,  and  procured  a  tract 
of  land  in  America,  of  whose  limits  we 
can  only  premise  with  safety  that  they 
embraced  all  of  the  territory  now  com- 
prised within  New  Jersey,  (regardless  of 
the  prior  grant  of  a  large  portion  thereof 
to  the  New  England  Company)  all  of 
Delaware,  and  parts  of  Maryland,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  New  York.'>'  By  the  liberal 
charter  which  Ployden  procured  from  his 
sympathetic  monarch,  he  was  invested 
with  the  title  of  Earl  Palatine,  which  drew 
after  it  very  great  privileges  to  the  gran- 
tee; for  Bracton,  "the  ancientest  of 
lawyers,"  as  Plantagenet  calls  him,  de- 
lines  an  Earl  Palatine  to  be  one  who  has 
regal  power  in  all  things  save  allegiance 
to  the  king. I  This  earldom  in  the  wil- 
derness was  called  New  Albion  ;  and 
steps  were  soon  taken  to  people  it  by 
those  who  feared  the  terrible  crisis  which 
was  approaching  in  the  affairs  of  their 
mother  England. 

The  foremost  of  those  who  fled  from  the 
fierce  spirit  of  democracy  which  began 
to  rock  the  throne  of  Charles  ere  he  had 
fairly  seated  himself  upon  it,  was  a  cer- 
tain Beauchamp  Plantagenet ;  who  had 
descended  from  the  royal  house  which 
had  given  England  her  three  first  Ed- 
wards. This  man  listened  with  utter 
dismay  to  the  republican  nomenclature 
which  had  begun  to  prevail,  such  as 
"cavalleers,  independents,  round  heads, 
and  malignants,"  which  he  describes  as 
"new  names  and  terms  like  an  unknown 
language,  unheard  of  in  all  the  globe  as 
far  as  ourantipodes."|  And  seeing  the 
storm  more  likely  to  increase  than  to  calm 
he  consulted  with  seven  knights,  his  kin- 
dred and  neighbors,  who  like  himself 
sought  to  escape  from  evils  they  could 
not  avert.  The  recent  grant  to  Ploy- 
den just  met  their  wishes  and  suited  their 
tastes ;  for  from  the  omnipotence  of  the 

*  Barclay's  Sketches  ubi  supra,  and   Plantage- 

net,  p.  26. 

t  Bracion,  p.  6'2;  Plantagenet,  p.  10. 
J  In  his  Dedication,  p.  3  of  N«w  Alb. 


THE  ALBIOTC  KNIGHTS  OF  THE  OOWVEHSION. 


25 


Palatine  they  hoped  to  become  lords  at 
least  in  the  new  world,  whereas  if  they 
stayed  in  England,  they  plainly  saw  that 
even  the  humbler  title  of  knights  could 
no  longer  tickle  their  ears. 

It  was  agreed  therefore  to  send  Plan- 
tagenet,  as  being  "the  oldest  and  boldest 
traveler,"  to  visit  all  parts  of  Sir  Ed- 
mund's vast  tract,  and  to  select  the  best 
place  for  the  eight  knights  and  gentle- 
men themselves,  a  hundred  servants,  and 
twenty  of  their  old  tenants  and  their 
families;  and  he  was  instructed  to  follow 
Gate's  rules  of  colonization,  to  wit:  to 
secure  a  pure  air,  a  fresh  navigable  river 
and  a  rich  country.  Under  these  direc- 
tions Plantagenet  fixed  upon  the  Dela- 
ware, "just  midway"  as  he  describes  it* 
"between  Virginia,  too  hot  and  aguish 
with  the  blasted  rains,  on  one  side,  and 
the  cold  New-England  on  the  other." 
This  trip  took  place  in  1636.  Our  voy- 
ager only  ascended  the  Delaware  sixty 
miles,  and  did  not  therefore  meet  with 
his  countrymen,  who  had  already  come 
from  Virginia,  and  built  a  fort  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Pensaukin,  where  they 
were  then  actually  residing  in  patient 
expectation  of  the  golden  reign  of  Ploy- 
den  himself. 

These  settlers  were  Captain  Young, 
his  nephew,  the  famous  Robert  Evelin, 
and  thirteen  other  traders,  who  arrived 
in  1633,  and  seated  themselves  in  the 
country  of  the  Amarongs,  after  whose  Sa- 
kima,  Eriwoneck,  they  named  their  first 
fort.  At  this )  post,  the  exact  site  of 
which  is  now  li^st,  Evelin  and  his  uncle 
kept  up  a  trade  with  the  Indians, f  for 
four  years.  Soon  after  the  expiration  of 
which  time,  that  is  in  1637,  it  was  occu- 
pied by  Bogot,  a  Swede  and  a  pioneer 
of  Menewe's  colony;  who,  by  proclaim- 
ing a  gold  mine  in  the  neighborhood, 

*  Page  6. 

t  We  learn  from»Evelin's  letter  thai  the  tribes 
on  the  east  of  the  Delaware  ivere  at  that  time  "in 
several  factions  and  wars  a£;ainst  the  Sasqiiehan- 
nocks,"  who  resided  in  Pennsylvania.  He  de- 
scribes them  as  "exlreatn  fearfull  of  a  gun,  na- 
ked and  unarmed  against  our  short  swords  and 
picks,"  and  adds  :  "  I  had  some  bickering  with 
Ihein,  but  they  are  of  so  little  esteem,  as  I  durst, 
with  fifteen  men  sit  down  or  trade  in  despight  of 
Ihern."    Plantagenet,  p.  20. 


drew  several  more  to  him,  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  Sincessingh,  of  which  we 
have  before  spoken.'^-  Eriwoneck  was 
only  possessed  by  the  English  from  1633 
to  1637;  for  Evelin  in  the  latter  year, 
tired  of  waiting  for  Sir  Edmund's  per- 
sonal advent,  journied  to  England,  where 
he  wrote  his  letter  to  Madam  Ployden, 
urging  her  husband  to  bring  with  him  to 
the  country  he  so  glowingly  describes, 
"three  hundred  men  or  more,  as  there 
is  no  doubt  but  that  he  may  doe  very 
well  and  grow  rich." 

In  1637,  almost  simultaneously  with  the 
publication  of  Evelin's  letter,  appeared 
the  first  part  of  Plantagenet's  account 
of  New  Albion,t  giving  a  general  de- 
scription of  the  country,  and  calculated 
to  induce  the  Earl  to  hasten  his  scheme 
with  all  diligence.  Accordingly  a  splen- 
did palatinate  was  projected-— the  banks 
of  the  Delaware  were  set  off  into  ma- 
nors— all  the  earl's  children  received 
titles — and  a  chivalric  order  was  in- 
stituted under  the  imposing  name  of 
The  Albion  Knights  of  the  conversion 
of  the  twenty-three  Kings.  The  first 
of  these  manors,  called  Watcessit,  the 
earl  reserved  for  himself.  It  was  situ- 
ated about  the  site  of  Salem,  at  the 
southern  end  of  what  Plantagenet  calls 

*The  Swedes  who  settled  on  the  Pensaukin 
were,  according  to  Plantagenet,  (p.  17)  instigated 
by  the  Dutch.  He  also  says  that  the  gold  mine 
which  the  Swedes  used  as  a  bait,  was  a  poor  af- 
fair :  fifty  shillings  charges  only  producing  nine 
shillings  gold,  for  which  reason  it  "  was  of  Cap- 
tain Young  that  tried  it,  slighted."  Yet  in  the 
maps  of  Ogilby  and  Du  Simitrc  a  gold  mine  was 
actually  located  somewhere  about  the  Rancocas. 
Barker's  Sketches,  p.  55.  The  Swedish  settle- 
ment ot  Eriwoneck  had  eighteen  inhabitants  in 
the  time  of  Evelin,  but  when  Cainpanius  wrote 
(if  his  Chincessing  and  Lindstrom's  Sincessingh 
are  one  and  the  same)  it  had  been  reduced  to  five 
freemen,  who,  Tiotwilhstanding  the  fallacious 
hopes  of  digging  gold,  "  lived  very  well."  Ante, 
p.  7.  The  four  years  which  Master  Evelin  stayed 
in  Fort  Eriwoneck  are  easily  determined  by  the 
data  we  have;  for  the  Dutch  had  left  the  Dela. 
ware  befpre  he  came,  and  the  Swedes  did  not  ar. 
rive  till  after  he  went;  but  the  Dutch  left  in  Jan- 
uary 1633,  (new  style)  and  the  Swedish  pioneers 
in  1637. 

tA  second  part  of  this  curious  book,  embody- 
ing Evelin's  letter,  was  issued  in  1642,  and  tha 
whole  as  now  extant  in  1C48.    See  p.  6. 


S6 


TUB  ALffilON  KNIOnTS  OF  THE  OCmTSRSIOlf . 


••the  Manteses  plain,  which  Master  Ev- 
elin  voucheth  to  be  twentj  miles  broad 
and  thirty  lon^,  and  fifty  miles  washed 
by  two  fair  navij^jable  rivers;  of  three 
hundred  thousand  acres  fit  to  plow  and 
sow  all  corn,  tobacco,  and  flax  and  rice, 
the  four  staples  of  Albion."  Three 
miles  as  was  estimated  from  Watcessit 
lay  the  domain  of  "Lady  Barbara,  Ba- 
roness of  Richneck,  the  mirror  of  wit  and 
beauty,"  adjoining  Cotton  River,  (now 
AUoway's  Creek)  "so  named  of  six  hun- 
dred pound  of  cotton  wilde  on  tree  jjrow- 
ing"  says  our  historian;  who  liirthersets 
forth  the  value  of  the  seat  awarded  to  the 
Earl's  favorite  dauj^hter,  by  adding  that 
it  was  of  "twenty-four  miles  compasse, 
of  wood,  huge  timber  trees,  and  two  feet 
black  mould,  much  desired  by  the  Vir- 
giniansjo  plant  tobacco.""'  l"he  manor 
of  Kildorpy,  at  the  falls  of  Trenton,  was 
unappropriated.  Bolalnianack,  or  Bel- 
vedere, on  the  Chesapeake  shore  of 
Delaware  State,  was  given  to  Plantage- 
net  under  the  Lord's  seal,  as  a  reward 
for  his  pains  in  exploring  the  country. 

How  far  this  scheme  was  realized  we 
cannot  tell.  It  is  said  that  the  New-Ha- 
ven settlers  at  Salem  were  visited  by 
Master  Miles,  who  swore  their  oflicers 
to  fealty  to  the  Palatine  before  their  ex- 
pulsion by  the  Dutch  and  Swedes.f 
The  Earl  himself,  sometime  before  16-11, 
came  to  ^e\v  Albion,  and  he  and  the 
royal  Plantagenet  "marched,  lodged  and 
cabinned  together  among  the  Indians" 
for  seven  years;  during  wliich  time  the 
second  part  of  our  author's  hook  was 
published  to  induce  the  emigration  of  the 
"vieounts,  barons,  baronets,  knights, 
gentlemen,  merchants,  adventurers  and 
planters  ol  the  hopeful  colony,"  who  had 
bound  themselves  in  England  to  settle 
three  thousand  able,  trained  men  in  the 
Palatine's  domain.  The  times  however 
were  too  full  of  excitement  at  home  for 
this  agreement  to  be  fulfilled — even  the 
Knights  of  the  Conversion  concluded  at 
last  to  hazard  the  dangers  of  republi- 
canism, rather  than  the  bufletings  of  the 
ocean ;  and  few,  if  any  of  them,  redeemed 

•  Barker's  PUciclies,  pp.  20  and  55  ;  and  Plan. 
tnpcnet  pp.  23  and  8. 
+  Plantagenet,  p.  7. 


their  pledge  to  Ployden  by  joining  him  in 
his  new  earldom.  Having  studied  mi- 
nutely the  character  and  peculiarities  of 
his  twenty-three  kings,  finding  that  Wat- 
cessit had  fallen,  and  disgusted  with  the 
treachery  of  the  men  he  had  loaded  with 
titles  and  promises,  he  returned  to  Eng- 
land with  his  faithful  Plantagenet,  who 
however  resolved  to  make  still  another 
effort  to  stock  the  country  with  subjects 
for  his  master.  Accordingly  the  book  on 
New  Albion  was  revamped  and  sent  forth 
in  1648  ;  but  in  vain.  In  the  whirlwind 
that  had  now  seized  the  popular  mind, 
more  eloquent  pens  than  Plantagenet's 
were  unheeded.  As  for  his,  it  suc- 
ceeded affectually  in  writmg  New  Albion 
into  utter  oblivion  for  nearly  two  centu- 
ries ! 

We  cannot  treat  the  Knights  of  the 
Conversion  so  cavalierly  as  to  pass  them 
by  without  yet  further  notice.  This 
goodly  band,  composed  originally  of 
Plantagenet  and  the  seven  persons  with 
whom  he  conferred,  partook  strongly 
of  the  fantastic  spirit  which  marked  their 
Hudibrastic  age.  Whatever  selfish  mo- 
tive might  have  influenced  them  in  real- 
ity in  tlieir  organization,  they  professed 
to  have  at  heart  only  a  desire  for  the 
conversion  of  the  twenty  three  Indian 
tribes  living  within  the  limits  of  Sir  Ed- 
mund's grant.  Hence,  upon  the  badge 
of  their  order  we  find  tiieir  own  and 
Ployden's  arms  supported  by  the  right 
hand  of  an  Indian  kneeling,  around 
which  are  twenty -two  crowned  heads: 
the  whole  being  encircled  by  the  legend 

DoCEBO  IMQUOS    VIAS    TUAS,  ET  IMPII  AD 

TE  coxvERTENTUR.  The  kiiights'  device 
was  a  hand  holding  a  crown  upon  the 
point  of  a  dagjrer,  above  an  open  bible ; 
and  the  Palatine's  arms,  two  flowers  upon 
the  points  of  an  indented  belt,  with  the 
legend  Virtus  beat  sic  suos."^ 

*?ee  the  cuts  of  (he  Kniglits'  badge  and  of  the 
Albion  nied;il  (of  ilie  two  bides  nt  wliirli  our  nils 
ore  copies*)  in  Pliintnpeiiel,  p.  2.  Not  being  siiilled 
in  liie  phruseology  oC  iicriildry  ourselves,  we  copy 
froiri  our  royul  author  an  explaiinlion  of  the  two 
coats  of  arms,  represented  upon  ll)e  suid  medal. — 
PJoyden's  he  describes  as 

True  virtue  tnonntrd  aloft  on  honour  high, 
In  a  serene  rontcieoce  *i  clear  as  ikie ; 

While  the  kniffhts'  double  duly  of  supporting  tht 


THB  ALBIOCf  000079  07  TBB  CONVERfllOIf . 


17 


ployoen's  arms. 
[Copied  from  Plantagenct's  New  Albion,] 

Of  the  mode  intended  to  be  joursued 
by  these  Knights  in  proselyting  the  In- 
dians, PJantagenet  has  left  us  a  hint,  for 
he  tells  us"'  that  any  gentleman  who 
was  out  of  employ  and  not  bent  to  labor 
might  come  to  New  Albion  "and  live 
like  a  devout  apostolique  soldier  toith 
the  sivord  o?id  the  word  to  civilize  and 
convert  them  to  be  his  majesty's  lieges, 
and  by  trading  with  them  for  furs,  get 
his  ten  shillings  a  day,"  which  he  thought 
much  better  than  contracting  with  the 
government  at  home  "to  kill  Christians 
for  five  shillings  a  week." 

But  notwithstanding  the  "apostolic 
blows  and  knocks"  which  the  Knights  of 
the  Conversion  thus  meditated  for  the 
good  of  their  red  brother's  souls,  the 
earl  himself  intended  no  such  logic  for 
his  English  subjects.  He  meant  by  an 
act  of  his  parliament  to  require  an  ob- 
servance of  some  of  the  fundamental 
creeds,  but  there  was  to  be  "no  perse- 
cution to  any  dissenting,  and  to  all  such 
as  the  Walloons  free  chapels."  The 
government  he  had  projected  was,  ex- 
cepting his  own  exorbitant  powers,  as 
liberal  as  his  church.  Its  officers  were 
"the  Lord  head  governor,  a  deputy  go- 
vernor, secretary  of  estate  or  seal  keep- 
er, and  twelve  of  the  councell  of  state  or 

Palatine's  power  and  the  religion  of  Christ  is  set 
forth  quite  as  clearly  in  the  device  itself  as  in  the 
folowing  explication  thereof: 

All  power  on  life  and  death,  (he  sword  and  crown 
On  Gospel's  truths  shine  honour  and  renown. 

The  •'  Virtus  beat  sic  suos"  was  the  legend  of 
tlie  Palatine. 
*  Page  31. 


upper  house ;  and  these  or  five  of  them 
were  also  a  court  of  chancery."  His  lower 
house  consisted  of  thirty  burghers  freely 
chosen,  who  were  to  meet  the  lords  in 
Parliament  annually  on  the  tenth  of  No- 
vember to  legislate  for  the  palatinate. 
Any  lawsuit  under  forty  shillings,  or  one 
hundred  pounds  of  tobacco  in  value,  was 
to  be  "ended  by  the  next  justice  at  one 
shilling  charge."  The  jurisdiction  of 
the  county  courts,  consisting  of  four  jus- 
tices, and  meeting  every  two  months, 
began  at  ten  pounds  sterling  or  fifteen 
hundred  weight  of  tobacco;  and  the  costs 
of  no  case  tried  herein  were  to  exceed 
four  shillings.  Appeals  lay  from  these 
courts  first  to  chancery  and  then  to  par- 
liament; and  our  author  concludes  his 
exposition  of  the  earl's  judiciary  by  say- 
ing; "Here  are  no  jeofails  nor  demur- 
ers ;  but  a  summary  hearing  and  a  sheriff 
and  clerk  of  court  with  small  fees,  end 
all  for  the  most  part  in  a  few  words."* 

After  the  expulsion  or  dispersion  of 
the  New  Albion  subjects  (as  Plantagenet 
claims  the  settlers  on  Varcken's  Kill  in 
1642  to  have  been)  the  land  embraced 
in  their  purchase  of  the  Indians  was  the 
cause  of  much  controversy  between  the 
Dutch  governor  of  New  Amsterdam,  and 
the  commissioners  of  the  United  colonies 
of  New  England.  On  the  nineteenth  of 
September,  16.50,  all  difficulties  were  ap- 
parently removed  by  a  treaty  concluded 
at  Hartford  between  Stuyvesant  and  the 
said  commissioners,  by  which  it  was 
agreed  "to  leave  both  parties  in  statu 
quo  privs,  to  plead  and  improve  their 
just  enterests  at  Delaware,  for  planting 
or  trading  as  they  shall  see  cause. "f  Ac 
cordingly  in  the  spring  of  16.51,  the  New 
Haven  men  attempted  to  effect  another 
settiementuponthe  Turner  purchase,  and 
fifty  people  actually  started  for  the  Dela- 
ware with  that  intent.  Stopping;  how- 
ever  at  New  Amsterdam  with  a  friendly 
letter  from  Governor  Eaton  to  Governor 
Stuyvesant,  they  were  arrested  by  that 
treacherous  Dutchman  and  compelled  to 
promise  that  they  would  return  home. 
Stuyvesant  moreover  wrote  a  letter  to  th* 


•  Page  28. 

I  Hazard's  Pcnn.  Regist  *,  Vol  I.  p.  IS. 


S3 


THE  GRANT  TO  THE  DUKE  OF  YORK, 


governor  of  New  Haven,  threatening  to 
resist  any  English  encroachment  on  the 
South  River,  even  to  blood.  The  claim 
thus  summarily  disposed  of  was  never  re- 
vived. The  Swedes  or  Dutch  held  the 
country  for  thirteen  years,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  the  great  charter  of  Charles 
swallowed  up  all  former  grants,  and 
opened  the  source  from  which  we  must 
deduce,  in  law  if  not  in  morals,  all  the 
present  land  titles  upon  the  sea-board  of 
the  middle  states.-"- 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  GRANT  TO  THE  DUKE  OF  YORK  AND 
THE  CONQUEST  BY  CAKR. 

Do  right  unto  this  princely  Duke  of  York, 
Or  I  will  fill  llie  house  with  armed  men, 
And  o'er  the  chair  of  state  where  now  he  sits, 
Write  up  his  title  with  usurping  hlood! 

SllAKSFCABE,  King  Henry  IK  part  3. 

On  the  twelfth  of  March  1664t 
Charles,  with  a  view  it  is  said  of  pro- 
voking a  war  with  the  States  of  Holland,:[: 
made  a  charter  to  his  brother  the  Duke 
of  York,  afterwards  James  11.,  for  two 
tracts  of  land  in  America;  the  second  of 
which  extended  from  the  west  side  of 
the  Connecticut  to  the  eastern  shore  of 
the  Delaware,  and  was  to  be  held  of  the 
King  and  his  successors  "as  of  the  man- 
ner of  East  Greenwich  in  the  county  of 
Kent,  in  free  and  common  socage,  and 
not  in  capite  or  by  knight  service."^ 
For  these  two  tracts  and  the  absolute 
right  of  government  over  both,  his  royal 
Highness  covenanted  to  pay  forty  beaver 
skins  yearly  within  ninety  days  after 
demand. 


*  Before  JG51  wc  learn  from  the  "  Beschriving 
vnn  Virginia,  New  Ncllierlands,  &c.,"  chap.  I.  of 
Diiponccau's  translation,  that  "  the  English  had  at 
several  limes  tried  to  pot  the  river."  But  the  col- 
ony at  Pcnsaukin  unritr  Pioyden's  grant, and  tliat 
on  Salem  Creek  in  ]Qi2  arc  tlie  only  known  at- 
Irmpts  by  that  nalion  to  settle  the  cast  bank  of  the 
Delaware  prior  to  the  grant  to  the  Duke  of  York. 

+  Learning  and  Spicer,  p.  8. 

t  Gordon's  New  Jersey,  p.  20. 

§Thisclaiise  was  doubtless  introfluced  in  con- 
pcquenec  of  the  late  statute  12  Car.  II,  abolishing 
Ihc  feudal  tenures,  and  turning  them  into  free  and 
tonitnon  Eocagc.     2  Black.  Comni.  Chap  v. 


In  pursuance  probably  of  an  under- 
standing entered  into  before  he  was 
himself  infeoflcd,  the  Duke,  on  the 
twenty-third  and  twenty-fourth  of  June 
following,-'-'  by  deeds  of  lease  and  release 
conveyed  that  portion  of  his  tract  now 
constituting  our  state,  to  two  assiduous 
attendants  t^t  his  brother's  court:  John 
Lord  Berkley,  baron  of  Stratton,  and  Sir 
George  Carteret  of  SaUrum  in  the  county 
of  Devon,  Knight;  to  the  latter  of  whom, 
in  consideration  of  his  good  service  to 
the  Stuarts  in  defending  the  island  of 
Jersey  against  the  Long  Parliament,  the 
lessor  did  the  honor  of  directing  the 
country  to  be  called  New  Jersey.  "All 
rivers,  mines,  minerals,  woods,  fishing, 
hawking,  hunting  and  fowling  and  all 
other  royalties"  were  demised,  with  the 
land  for  the  consideration  of  ten  shil- 
lings and  the  yearly  reddendum  of  one 
pepper-corn  to  be  paid  on  the  day  of  the 
nativity  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  if  legally 
exacted,  and  the  release  which  perfect- 
ed the  fee  in  Berkley  and  Carteret 
reserved  a  rent-seek  of  "  seventy  nobles 
of  lawful  money  of  England,  if  the  same 
shall  be  lawfully  demanded  at  or  in  the 
Inner  Te'.vrple  Hall,  London  at  the  feast 
of  St.  Michael  the  Arch-angel."  In 
these  conveyances  nothing  is  expressed 
concerning  the  right  of  government;  but 
the  proprietors  construing  the  duke's 
words  most  strongly  against  himself, 
seem  to  have  considered  that  right  as 
clearly  vested  in  them  as  the  title  to 
whales  and  sturgeons,  or  any  other 
branch  of  the  royal  prerogative.f 

Sir  Robert  Carr  having  been  sent  out 
with  three  ships  and  six  hundred  men  in 
the  fall  succeeding  these  alienations,  vis- 
ited the  Delaware,  and  after  the  outlay  of 
two  barrels  of  powder  and  twenty  shot, 
took  political  attornment  of  the  Dutch 
and  Swedish  residents  at  Racoon,  El- 
sinborg  and  elsewhere  upon  the  Jersey 
shore.  An  agreement  was  concluded  be- 
tween the  parties  on  the  first  of  October 
stipulating  for  the  burghers  and  planters 

*  Smith's  New  Jersey,  p.  49. 

tThc  originals  of  these  two  deeds  are  now  in 
the  Surveyor  General's  office  at  Burlington,  and 
are  signed  with  a  simple  James,  in  au  autograph 
remarkable  for  its  boltJncss  and  grace. 


ANT)  THE  CONQUEST  BY  CARS. 


29 


security  in  their  persons  and  estates,  the 
continuance  of  most  of  their  old  magis- 
trates in  office,  and  the  privilege  of  re- 
turning to  Europe  within  six  months,  or 
free  denizenship  and  liberty  of  conscience 
if  they  remained.     For  some  time  after 
this  event,  the  Dutch  and  Swedes  resid- 
ing upon  the  Delaware  were  subject  to 
the  government  of  Sir  John  Carr,  Dep- 
uty of  Nicholls,  assisted  by  a  council  of 
the  old  inhabitants,  to  wit :  Hans  Block, 
Israel  Holmes,  Peter  Rambo,  Peter  Cock 
and  ex-director  Peter  Aldrick.     Three 
of  this  council,  Helmes,  Rambo  and  Cock 
afterwards  figured  on  the  grand  juries  of 
old  Gloucester  County;-''  and  Rambo's 
son  of  the  same  name  had  the  honor  of 
entei'taining  the  learned  Kalm  during  his 
visit  to  Racoon  in  1748. f 

The  Dutch  could  not  tamely  see  their 
New  Netherlands  appropriated  by  their 
hated  foe  of  York.  J  A  war  with  England 
ensued,  which  was  ended  in  July  1667, 
by  the  treaty  of  Breda,  whereby  each 
party  was  allowed  to  retain  whatever  it 
had  acquired  from  the  other.  This  war 
did  not  in  any  wise  alter  the  circum- 
stances of  the  country  under  our  consi- 
deration ;  but  somov/hat  more  than  a  year 
after  the  renewal  of  hostilities  in  March 
1672,  between  the  restless  Charles  and 
his  phlegmatic  neighbors,  the  banks  of 
the  Delaware  became  again  the  property 
of  the  Dutch  by  actual  conquest ,  and  the 
renowned  Peter  Aldrick,  who  appears 
to  have  been  willing  to  serve  any  master, 
was  made  commandant  thereof  under  An- 
thony Cqlve,  the  governor  general  over 
New  York,  (now  again  New  Netherlands) 
and  its  dependencies.^  The  Dutch  do- 
minion lasted  just  long  enough  to  puzzle 
the  English  lawyers  as  to  the  validity  of 
the  grants  to  and  from  the  Duke  of  York; 
for  by  the  treaty  of  Westminster,  con- 
cluded on  the  twenty-eighth  of  February 
in  the  same  year,|[  the  whole  country  was 

*  Woodbury  Records,  book  A  of  Court  Minutes. 

tKalm's  Travels,  Vol.  I.  p.  334. 

t  Acrclius,  New  York  Hist.  Coll.  new.  ser.  Vol. 
I.  p.  426.  See  Hume's  Hist,  of  England,  London 
ed.  1824,  p.  7G9. 

§Acrel.,  ubi  supra. 

II  Gordon,  p.  30,  dates  this  treaty  in  1674;  but 
Mr.  Johnson  is  right  when  he  says  in  his  Hist  of 


restored  to  Charles,  and  vested  in  him, 
it  was  thought,  de  novo  and  free  of  all  in- 
cumbrances. 

On  the  tenth  of  February  1664,  eleven 
months  after  the  royal  charter,  the  two 
Lords  Proprietors  published  their  Grants 
and  Concessions,  the  first  constitution  of 
New  Jersey,  and,  as  the  term  is  now 
understood  in  American  politics,  the  first 
constitution  in  the  world.  But  although 
this  code  was  framed  on  principles  whicli 
the  historian  justly  applauds, '''  the  set- 
tling of  the  province,  especially  along 
the  Delaware,  went  on  slowly  for  some 
years  after  its  promulgation.  The  dis- 
appointed Berkley,  therefore,  on  the 
eighteenth  of  March,  1673,  dissolved 
the  joint  tenancy  between  himself  and 
Carteret,  by  selling  his  undivided  share 
for  one  thousand  pounds,  to  John  Fen- 
wicke,  of  Binfield,  in  the  county  of 
Berks,  in  trust  for  Edward  Billinge.t  It 
is  probable  that  an  understanding  was 
had  between  the  two  proprietors  that  the 
Pensaukin  should  be  the  western  di- 
viding point  of  their  respective  moities; 
for  the  king,  in  order  to  cure  any  legal 
defect  ai'ising  from  the  Dutch  reconquest, 
having  on  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  June, 
1674,  made  a  second  grant  to  his  bro- 
ther, the  latter  just  a  month  afterwards 
reconveyed  to  Carteret,  in  severalty,  all 
that  part  of  New  Jersey  lying  north  of  a 
line  extending  from  Barnegat  "to  a  cer- 
tain creek  in  Delaware  River  next  adjoin- 
ing to  and  below  a  certain  creek  in  Del- 
aware River,  called  Renkokus  Kill.iJ; 

By  a  conveyance  perfected  on  the  tenth 
of  February,  1674,  Fenwick  and  his  ces- 
tui que  trust  assigned  nine  undivided 
tenth  parts  of  West  Jersey  to  William 

Salem,  p.  9,  that  it  was  in  ]  673 ;  February  beingf^ 
until  late  in  the  last  century  the  last  instead  of  the 
second  month  of  the  twelve.  The  common  year 
ran  from  llie  first,  and  tlie  legal  year  from  tho 
25th  of  March  ;  the  historical  year  sometimes  be- 
ginning fi-om  January.  See  Learning  and  Spicer, 
p.  74.  An  oversight  of  this  fact  has  led  Mr. 
Gordon,  p.  24,  to  suggest  that  Berkely  and  Carte- 
ret published  their  Concessions  while  New  Jersey 
actually  belonged  to  the  crown  ! 

*  Gordon's  New  Jersey,  p.  79. 

t  Learning  and  Spicer,  pp.  50  and  64;  and 
Smith's  New  Jersey,  p.  97. 

t  Learning  and  Spicer,  p.  47. 


so 


THE  ORAWT  TO  ■!«£  DUKE  OF  YORK. 


Penn,  Gawn  Lawrieancl  Nicliolas  Lucas, 
intrust  (or  the  creditors  of  Billinj^e;  the 
remainhij^  tenth  bein<^  reserved  to  Fen- 
wick  himself.  This  remainder  was  soon 
afterwards  leased  for  a  thousand  years  to 
Eldridg'e  and  Warner,  who  were  allowed 
to  sell  so  much  of  the  land  demised  as 
would  reimburse  them  a  sum  of  money 
which  they  had  advanced  to  Fenvvick. 
Under  this  power  the  lessees  sold  to 
Penn,  Lawrie  and  Lucas  all  of  the  les- 
sor's rij^ht  and  title,  foreprizinj^  only  the 
claims  of  a  few  persons  who  in  1(37.5  had 
settled  on  Fenvvick's  tenth  under  deeds 
from  him  prior  to  the  lease."" 

Thus  the  province  of  West  Jersey 
came  wholly  into  the  hands  of  Billinj^e 
(whose  ri<^ht  was  merely  ec[uitable)  and 
his  three  trustees  and  creditors  whom 
we  have  above  named.  Disregarding 
alike  the  threats  and  the  complaints  of 
Fenwick,  these  four  proprietors  on  the 
third  of  March,  1G76,  promulj^ated  their 
Concessions  for  West  Jersey,  which  were 
agreed  to  by  most  or  all  of  the  freehold- 
ers and  inhabitants,  Dutch,  Swedish  and 
Enj^lish,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  forty 
seven  signed  with  the  proprietors  this 
bond  of  union,  and  became  thenceforth 
one  people. t 

A  new  line  having  been  fixed  upon  be- 
tween East  and  West  Jersey  by  the  quin- 
tipatite  deed  made  on  the  first  of  July 
1676  by  Carteret  and  the  four  West  Jer 
sey  proprietors,  the  latter  were  ready  to 
carry  into  effect  that  clause  of  their  con- 
cessions^: which  required  the  province  to 

*  The  conveynnce  by  Fcnwick's  lessees  was 
made  nsleiisibly  f;)r  tlie  purpose  of  enabling  Penn 
to  eft'ecl  a  piirlilion  wilh  Carteret;  but  in  a  re- 
monstranee  from  Fijnwick  dated  at  "  Fenvvick's 
Ivy,  the  12lli  oflhc  first  inontii,  commonly  called 
March,  \678-9,"  he  directly  accuses  Penn  and  the' 
rest  with  having  conspired  tojrelhcr  to  cheat  him 
oul  ol'  his  whole  estate  I  Sic  Johnson's  Salem,  p. 
'.i8  el  seq.  We  niijjht  rc.idily  settle  this  point  if 
we  knew  the  sum  Fenwick  iiad  borrowed,  and  the 
sum  for  whicfi  his  tenth  was  sold. 

t  Tliese Concessions  (writien  in  text  in  a  parch- 
ment book)  are  still  preserved  in  Burliiig;ton,  as  is 
also  the  great  qnintipartite  deed,  which  covcr.s  two 
sheep  skins  I  There  are  several  other  interesting 
and  valuable  instruments  in  the  surveyor's  ofHfc 
in  that  city,  from  one  or  two  of  which  some  Van- 
dal lins  cut  Penn'fl  sig'nuturc. 

I  Chnp.  I. 


be  laid  off  into  ten  precincts,  each  em- 
bracing ten  proprietaries  or  actions. 
The  tenths  were  not  really  laid  off  how- 
ever until  after  the  fourteenth  day  of 
Januaty,  IGSl  ;  at  which  time  the  com- 
missioners ordered  the  surveyor  to  mea- 
sure the  front  of  the  river  Delaware 
fr^m  Assunpink  to  Cape  May,  into  ten 
proportionable  parts,  running  each  tenth 
"so  far  back  into  the  woods"  as  to  give 
it  an  area  of  sixty-four  thousand  acres. 
The  first  and  second  tenth  extended 
"from  the  river  Derwent,  formerly  called 
Sunpink,  on  the  north,  to  the  river  Crap- 
well,  or  Pensaukin,  on  the  South,"  and 
the  third  and  fourth  tenths  reached  from 
the  "said  river  called  Crapwell,  on  the 
north,  to  the  river  Berkley,  formerly 
called  Old  Man's  Creek  on  the  south  ;" 
and  out  of  these  two  precincts  (firstly  by 
the  voluntary  act  of  the  peoi)le  them- 
selves, and  afterwards  by  a  law  of  the 
West  Jersey  General  Assembly,  was 
formed  the  County  of  which  we  are 
writing. 

After  the  execution  of  the  quintipar- 
tite  deed.  Billinge  and  his  three  trustees 
received  John  Eldridge  and  Edmund 
Warner  into  the  number  of  proprietors, 
by  reconveying  to  them  in  fee  the  share 
formerly  belonging  to  Fenwick;  and  on 
the  sixth  of  August,  16S0,-'=-  the  duke  of 
York  made  a  second  grant  of  the  soil  of 
West  Jersey  to  these  persons;  from 
whom  either  mediately  or  immediately 
are  derived  all  regular  titles  to  lands  in 
the  said  province  unlocated  before  that 
time.  The  mode  of  appropriating  un- 
occupied tracts  as  prescribed  by  the  con- 
cessions of  Berkely  and  Carteret,t  and 
continued  by  subsecpient  laws  down  to 
16S7  without  material  alteration,  was  as 
follows:  The  adventtirer  having  pitched 
upon  his  site,  procured  from  the  propri- 
etary government  a  warrant  directing  the 
surveyor  general  to  run  off  and  mark  a 
specific  number  of  acres;  and  this  war 
rant,  endorsed  hy  the  surveyor  with  the 
date  of  the  survey,  was  returned  to  the 
register's  office  and  recorded,  where- 
upon b}'  precipe  from  the  government  the 

*  I.eaming  and  Spicer,  p.  412. 
t  Idem,  p.  ^0,  ct  sc<]. 


THB  THIRD  AND  FOURTH  PRECINCTS  PURCHASED  OP  THE  INDIANS. 


31 


register  issued  a  patent,  which  being 
countersigned  by  the  Govenor  and  some 
of  the  Council,  created  an  indefeasible 
title  in  the  patentee."'  Until  1678  the 
quantity  of  land  which  an  individual 
might  take  up  was  regulated  by  his 
number  of  servants  and  his  celerity  in 
removing  to  the  province;  and  each  lo- 
cator was  obliged  on  pain  of  escheat  to 
keep  on  every  hundred  acres  covered  by 
his  warrant  two  able  men  servants  or 
three  weaker  servants.  The  fees  thus 
acquired  were  subject  to  a  ground  rent 
varying  from  a  half-penny  to  a  penny 
and  a  half  per  acre,  payable  to  the  Gen- 
eral Proprietors.  In  16S7,  on  account 
of  frequent  alienations  and  transfers, 
these  Proprietors  had  became  too  nume- 
rous to  conduct  their  business  in  their 
former  democratic  manner;  and  accord- 
ingly a  Proprietary  Council  M'as  selected 
on  the  fourteenth  of  February  in  that 
year  to  manage  all  matters  relating  to 
unseated  lands.  This  council,  the  ghost 
of  the  once  potent  proprietary  govern- 
ment of  West  Jersey,  has  survived  two 
revolutions,  though  there  has  long  been 
but  little  real  necessity  for  its  continuance. 
Its  jurisdiction  in  matters  connected  with 
vacant  lands  has  been  recognized  by 
comparatively  late  statutes  o  this  state  ;f 
one  of  which,  and  to  the  antiquarian  the 
most  important,  provides  for  the  sate 
keeping  of  the  valuable  documents  to 
which  we  have  before  referred. 

In  granting:  warrants  the  General  Pro- 
prietors of  West  Jersey,  who,  notwith- 
standing Fenwick's  complaints,  were 
upright  and  honest  men,  seem  to  have 
admitted  the  possession  of  the  Dutch 
and  Swedes  to  have  given  them  a  pre- 
emption rigiit.  All  of  these  people  at 
the  commencement  of  the  English  go- 
vernment were  summoned  to  New  York 
by  Andross,  to  take  deeds  in  the  Duke's 
name,  at  a  rent  of  a  bushel  of  wheat  for 
a  hundred  acres;  and  some  of  them, 
Acrelius  says, factually  complied.  Whe- 
ther they  rested  upon  this  title  or  upon 
purchases  from  the  natives,  their  tracts 

*Gordon,p.  65  etseq. 
t  timer's  Dijjnst,  p.  548. 
:  New  York  Hist.  Coll.,  new  ser.  Vol.  I.  p,  427, 
et  £eq. 


were  resurveyed  to  them  under  the  West 
Jersey  concessions;  to  which,  as  we 
have  before  observed,  many  Dutch  and 
Swedes  voluntarily  became  parties.  One 
of  the  Swedish  purchases,  made  by  Go- 
vernor Printz  himself",  in  1646,  extended 
from  the  Racoon  to  Mantua's  Hook, 
where  the  Swedish  arms  were  set  aloft 
as  a  caution  to  Andries  Huddie,  Jost  von 
dem  Boyandh,  andall  other  trespassing 
Dutchmen.-""  Soon  after  this  it  is  proba- 
ble that  six  of  the  Dutchf  interested  in 
the  settlement  at  Nassau  bought  in  trust 
for  the  West  India  Company  all  the  land 
from  the  north  bound  of  the  above  pur- 
chase to  the  Rankokas,  as  a  retaliation 
on  Printz ;  so  that  in  reality  the  Indian 
title  to  the  soil  of  Old  Gloucester  had 
been  entirely  extinguished  before  the  ar- 
rival of  the  English. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  THIRD    AND    FOURTH    PRECIXCTS  PUR- 
CHASED OF  THE  INDIANS  AND  SETTLED. 

What  nation  will  vou  find  whose  annals  prove 
So  rich  an  inl'rest  in  Almi^hlj'  love; 
Where  dwell  they  now,  where  dwelt  in  ancient  day 
A  people  planted,  waler'd,  hlest,  as  ihev? 

Cowper's  Expostulation. 

Owing  to  the  differences  between  Bil- 
linge  and  FenwickJ  no.  ship  followed  to 
West  Jersey  for  two  years  after  the  set- 

*  [Tnddie  and  Bovandli  were  then  offipcrs  of 
Fort  Na.ssau,  in  which  rcspnnsihie  post  they  suc- 
ceeded one  Jan  Janson  Uppendam,  who  was 
commissary  in  1642.  See  Acrelius,  New  York 
Hist.  Coll.  new  ser.  vol.  I.  p.  41.3.  The  reason  of 
Governor  Printz's  inakinjr  this  purchase  was  as 
fi)|lows:  Ifi  the  year  al)ove  slated  one  Thomas 
Broeii  came  vvilh  permission  from  Stiiyves;inl  to 
establish  himself  at  .Mantua's  Hool;,  opposite  Tin- 
icum.  Printz  consented  on  condition  that  Broen 
would  become  a  Swedish  subject.  This  was  re- 
fused ;  whereupon  the  governor,  "  discnvering  the 
desig-ns  of  the  Dutch,"  says  the  historian, '  bought 
the  land  himself"     Acrelius  iit  sop.  p.  411. 

tViz:  Simcm  Rulh,  Cornelius  Marizen,  Fcfer 
Hermanson,  Andries  Huddie,  Alexander  Buyer, 
and  Divid  Davids.  See  Acrelius,  ubi  supra. 
There  is  no  reason  for  believina  with  the  editor  of 
the  new  series  of  the  New  York  Hist.  Coll.  that 
the  Tetiekr)ng  tneniidoed  by  the  i^wcde  in  the  ac- 
count of  this  purchase  was  not  theTinicuni  oppo^ 
site  Mantua's  Creek. 

t  Smith's  New  Jersey,  p.  79. 


32 


THE  THIRD  AND  FOURTH  PRECIWCTS 


tlement  of  Salem;  but  Penn  having  at 
length  pacified  these  parties,  vigorous 
measures  began  to  be  taken  to  organize 
the  provincial  government  according  to 
the  Concessions.  'Ihe  commissioners 
provided  by  the  first  chapter  of  that  code 
sailed  from  London  in  the  ship  Kent, 
Gregory  Marlovv  master,  and  arrived  at 
New  Castle,  then  the  English  capital  of 
the  Delaware,  on  the  sixteenth  of  Au- 
gust, 1676.- 

Besides  the  commissioners  there  came 
in  the  Kent  two  hundred  and  thirty  pas- 
sengers, mostly  quakers  of  good  estates 
in  England,  who,  it  is  a  fact  worth  no- 
ticing, fled  from  their  native  land  to 
avoid  the  identical  principles  which  their 
predecessors  under  Ployden  had  sought 
to  secure.  They  were  ill  pleased  at  a 
return  from  republicanism  to  monarchy, 
and  from  liberal  toleration  to  a  religion 
prescribed  by  law  and  promulgated  by 
fire,  dungeons,  and  the  sword.  Their 
minds  had  been  enlarged  by  the  free 
spirit  of  inquiry  which  preceded  the 
great  revolution,  and  could  not  again  be 
compressed  into  the  narrowness  of  ac- 
knowledging the  divine  right  of  kings 
either  in  matters  of  church  or  of  state. 
While  others  therefore  of  more  plastic 
temper  threw  up  at  the  restoration  the 
same  caps  with  which  they  had  hailed 
the  bleeding  head  of  Charles  I.,  these 
quakers  sought  an  asylum  in  the  western 
world,  where  they  might  nourish  their 
deep-rooted  hatred  for  the  pageantry  of 
monarchs,  and  the  hypocrisy  of  priests.f 
It  was  no  secret  to  Charles  II.  that  the 
followers  of  Fox  entertained  and  avowed 
the  most  latittidinarian  doctrines  of  go- 
vernment and  church  polity;  yet  while  the 
Kent  lay  in  the  ^riiames,'  that  sceptred 
harlequin,  who  was  pleasuring  in  his 
barge,  came  along  side,  asked  if  the  pas- 
sengers were  Quakers  and  where  they 

•  Idrm,  p.  93.  Tliesn  commissioners  were 
Thomas  Olive,  Daniel  Wilis,  John  Kinsey,  John 
Penford,  Jos(-|)li  Helmsley,  Robert  Slacy,  Benja- 
min Scott,  Richnrd  tJuv  and  Thomas  FoiilUe. 
Guv  had  come  out  with  Fcnwiclt  in  the  CJi  iffiih  in 
1675,  and  Kinsey  died  at  Shackamaxon  (now  Ken- 
sinKlon)  .soon  after  his  arrival,  and  now  lies  in- 
terred in  one  of  (he  streets  of  Burlington. 

t  Junius,  letter  xxxv. 


were  bound,  and  gave  them  his  bless- 
ing-it  "This  last  circumstance,"' it  has 
been  observed,  "may  seem  soinewhat 
extraordinary,  when  we  reflect  that  at  the 
very  time  it  took  place,  thousands  of 
the  Quakers  were  suffering  throughout 
Charles'  dominions;  but  it  was  in  char- 
acter with  the  monarch.  Ever  smooth 
and  specious  in  his  exterior,  but  in  heart 
deceptive  and  corrupt,  his  character  was 
a  gilded  cheat.  Yet  perhaps  a  blessing 
from  him  was  better  than  a  malediction; 
and  if  aught  of  advantage  was  conferred, 
let  us  not  be  u n grate ful."-)- 

The  Kent  landed  her  passengers  at'the 
mouth  of  the  Racoon  Creek,  where  the 
Swedes  had  left  a  few  scattering  habita- 
tions. These  not  being  sufficient  to 
accommodate  them  all,  some  took  pos- 
session of  cow-stalls,  and  apartments  of 
that  sort,  until  other  edifices  could  be 
built.  From  Watson's  description  of  the 
Swedish  houses  in  the  olden  time,  it 
seems  there  was  little  choice  between 
them  and  the  stalls.  Each  mansion  con- 
sisted of  but  one  room,  with  a  door  so 
low  as  to  require  those  entering  to  stoop, 
and  no  windows  save  loop  holes  with 
sliding  boards  or  isinglass  dead-lights; 
their  chimneys,  in  one  corner,  were  of 
grey  sandstone,  adjoining  to  which  was 
an  oven;  and  the  cracks  between  the 
logs  of  which  the  house  was  built  were 
filled  with  clay.|  These  dwellings  had 
been  abandoned  by  the  concentration  of 
the  Swedes  at  the  now  obliterated  vil- 
lage of  Repaapo,(^\  or  at  the  ancient  town 
of  Racoon,  now  called  Swedesborough  ; 
and  it  is  probable  from  the  description 
that  they  had  been  originally  built  by  the 
servile  Finns,  and  Laps  who  tilled  the 
ground. 

On  the  second  of  March,  1676,  Billinge's 
trustees  sold  to  five  considerable  persons 
in  the  county  of  York,||    "certain  privi- 

•Smith's  New  Jersey,  p.  93. 

+  MS.  Lecture  on  ''  The  Settlements  on  the 
Delaware,"  delivered  by  Dr.  Isaac  S.  Mulford  be- 
fore the  Camden  VVasliinglon  Library  Co.,  Feb. 
9th,  1842. 

tAnnals  of  Philndrlphia,  p.  470,  cd.  of  1830. 

(}  Kaltn's  Travels,  Vol.H.  p.  16y. 

II  Viz:  Thos.  Hutchinson,  Thomas  Pearson,  Jo- 
Reph  Helmsley,  George  Hutchinson  and  .Malilon 
Stacy. 


rURCIlASED  OF  THE  IVOlAItt. 


15 


k^es  for  a  town  to  be  built,  whereby  they 
have  liberty  to  choose  their  own  inaj^is- 
trates  and  officers  for  executing  laws  ac- 
cording to  the  Concessions,  within  the 
said  town.'-"  This  contract  was  ratified 
by  the  Concessions  which  Ibilowed  in  lour 
diiys  afterwards ;  and  the  Yorksiiire  men 
were  thereby  allowed  the  first  choice  of 
the  tenths  into  which  the  province  was 
to  be  divided ;  the  second  choice  being 
reserved  to  any  other  company  who 
should  purchase  ten  proprieties  or  ac- 
tions. Immediately  afterwards,  a  com- 
pany of  Friends  in  Ix)ndon  ])ui-chased  a 
patent  for  another  tenth;  the  commis- 
sioners appointed  by  the  Proprietors  be- 
ing divided  into  two  committees,  who 
were  respectively  to  fix  upon  the  tenth 
to  be  occupied  by  the  two  companieSs — 
Ehriley,  Helmsley  and  Stacy,  on  behalf 
■of  the  Yorkshire  men,  immediately  after 
their  arrival  in  1G77,  chose  from  the  falls 
■of  Delaware  down  ;  while  Penford,  Ol- 
ive, Wills  and  Scott  chose  for  the  Lon- 
don men  the  country  about  Arwames,  or 
Gloucester  Point.  The  commissioners 
were  also  authorized  to  buy  th€  right  of 
the  Indians,  which  the  latter  were  very 
ready  to  sell  again,  notwithstanding  their 
former  bargains  with  the  Dutch  and  the 
Swedes.  Accordingly,  having  procured 
Israel  Helmes,  Peter  Rambo  and  Lacy 
Cock  from  the  Swedes  as  interpreters, 
all  the  land  between  the  falls  and  Old- 
man's  creek  was  bargained  for,  though 
the  Indians  seem  to  have  stood  seized  to 
the  use  of  the  English  for  some  time  af- 
terwards, on  account  of  delay  in  the  forth- 
coming of  the  consideration.f 

I'he  first  purchase  was  made,  accord- 
ing to  the  minute  of  the  deed  in  the  of- 
fice of  the  Secretary  of  State  in  Trenton, :|: 
on  the  tenth  of  September  1677,  of  "Kat- 
amas,  Sekappio,  Peanto  alias  Enequeto, 
and  Rennowighwan,  Indian  Sarkamark- 
oes,"  of  the  land  lying  between  the  mid- 
streams of  Rancocasand  Timber  creeks, 
and  bounded  on  the  east  by  a  right  line 
drawn  between  the  uppermost  head  of 
each  stream.  The  consideration  stipu- 
lated by  the  commissioners  was  literally 

»  Lcamifig'  and  Spiccr,  p.  384. 
t Smith's  New  Jersev,  p.  95. 
I  Liber  B  of  Deods,  \o.  J  p.  i. 


as  follows  :  "fforty  six  ffadome  of  duf- 
fels, thirty  blankits,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  of  powder,  thirty  gunns,  tv.o 
hundred  ffadome  of  wampum,  thirty  ket- 
tles, thirty  axes,  thirty  small  howes, 
thirty  auls,  thirty  needles,  thirty  looking 
glasses,  thirty  paire  of  stockings,  seavc/i 
anchors  of  brandij,  thirty  knives,  thirty 
barres  of  lead,  thirty-six  rings,  thirl>j 
Jewe's  harps,  thirty  combs,  thirty  brace- 
lets, thirty  bells,  thirty  tobacco  tongs, 
thirty  paire  of  sissors,  twelve  tobacco 
boxes,  thirty  fflints,  tenne  pcivtcr  spoon- 
J'l'lls  of  paint,  one  hundred  f!isli  hooka 
and  one  grosse  of  pipes."  This  hard 
bargain  was  witnes.sed  by  Thomas  ^^'at- 
son  and  three  Swedes:  Andrew  Swan- 
son,  Swan  Swanson  and  Lacy  Swan- 
son. 

Seventeen  daj's  afterwards  (on  the 
twent3'-seventh  of  September)  a  deed 
was  made  to  the  commissioners-^  by  the 
Indian  chiefs  Mohocksey,  Tetamchro 
and  Apperinges,  for  the  land  "between 
the  midstream  of  Oldman's  Creek  to  the 
southward,  and  the  midstream  of  Tim- 
ber Creek  to  the  northward,  and  bounded 
to  the  eastward  by  a  right  lyne  extended 
along  the  countery  from  the  uppermost 
head  of  Oldman's  Creek  to  the  upper- 
niosT:  head  of  Timber  Creek,  fcr  the  con- 
sideration of  thirty  match-coats,  twenty 
guns,  thirty  kettles  and  one  ^reat  one, 
thirty  paire  of  hose,  twenty  lladome  of 
duffels,  thirty  petticoats,  thirty  Indian 
axes,  thirty  narrow  howes,  thirty  barrea 
of  lead,  fifteen  small  barrels  of  powder, 
seaventy  knives,  sixty  paire  of  tobacco 
tongs,  sixty  sissors,  sixty  tinshaw  looking 
glasses,  seaventy  combs,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  aul  blades,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  ffish  hooks,  tivo  grasps  of  red 
point,  one  hundred  and  twenty  i>eed!es. 
sixty  tobacco  boxes,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  pipes,  two  hundred  bells,  one. 
hundred  Jewe's  ho)ps,  and  sia:  ayiciiorm 
of  rum."  And  this  conveyance  was  ex- 
ecuted before  Robert  Wade,  James 
Saunderland,  James  Yesteven,  Samuel 
Lovett  and  Henry  Reynolds.f 

Commissioner   Olive  having  bought 

*  Kinsey's  name  appears  jn  ihia  indrnlure,  but 
jiot  in  the  former. 

*  Slat?  Rccnrdd,  iibi  .t'lpra. 


34 


TOE  ORIGIN  OF  OLD  GLOUCESTER. 


some  cattle  of  the  Swedes,-'^  sent  out 
servants  to  cut  hay,  and  was  proceeding 
immediately  to  make  a  settlement  for  the 
London  people  at  Arwames;  but  the 
Yorkshire  men,  not  liking  so  wide  a  sepa- 
ration between  themselves  and  their  com- 
panions, proposed  that  the  two  compa- 
nies should  unite  and  establish  a  town. 
Being  promised  very  favorable  things, 
the  Londoners  consented,  and  Burling- 
ton was  accordingly  laid  out,  and  for 
some  time  enjoyed  in  common ;  but  the 
Yorkshire  men,  with  proverbial  astute- 
ness, managed  to  allot  to  their  allies  the 
eastern  part  of  the  town,  and  reserve  the 
most  pleasant  for  themselves. f 

From  1 677  emigrants  continued  to  pour 
into  West  Jersey  from  various  parts  of 
England,  to  enjoy  the  wise  and  liberal 
government  established  upon  the  Con- 
cessions. This  government  was  admin- 
istered from  1676  to  16S0,  by  commis- 
sioners appointed  by  the  Proprietors  in 
England.  After  the  twenty-fifth  day  of 
March,  1680,  the  people  in  each  tenth 
were  to  elect  one  commissioner  yearly, 
until  a  General  Assembly  could  be  cho- 
sen. In  1681,  Jennings,  the  deputy  of 
Billinge,  whom  the  Proprietors  had 
made  Governor,  called  an  assembly, 
which,  on  account  of  the  tribes  or  tenths 
not  yet  being  set  apart,  was  elected  by 
the  province  at  large.  In  May  of  the 
following  year,  such  partition  having 
been  made,  the  Assembly,  among  many 
other  statutes  passed  during  a  session  of 
only  four  days,  j:  enacted  that  each  tenth 
as  it  was  peopled  should  send  ten  dele- 
gates. On  the  second  of  May,  1683, 
the  first  assembly  thus  chosen,  began  to 
sit:  the  third  or  Irish  tenth  (from  Pens- 
aukin  to  Timber  Creek)  being  repre- 
sented by  William  Cooper,  Mark  New- 
bie,  Henry  Stacy,  Francis  Collins,  Sam- 
uel Cole,  Thomas  Howell  and  William 
Bate — only  seven   persons;    while  the 

*  Smith's  New  Jersey,  p.  98;  and  Kalm's  Tra- 
Tcls,  Vol.  II.  p.  110. 

tSmilh,  ubi  sopra. 

J  Learn,  and  Spicer,  p,  442.  A  sppcial  session 
of  tlie  same  assembly,  called  by  the  Governor  on 
tiic  25lh  of  September,  1682,  only  lasted  Iwo  days, 
in  which  time  thcv  panspd  ten  Inw»!  I-cam.  snd 
Spir.,  p.  4.=;?. 


fourth  tenth,  from  Timber  Creek  to  Old- 
man's  Creek  had  no  delegate  at  all,  on 
account  probably  of  its  yet  containing 
only  Dutch  and  Swedes,  who  took  no 
interest  in  matters  of  government. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  OLD  GLOUCESTER — ITS  PUB- 
LIC BUILDINGS — THE  ERECTION  OF  AT- 
LANTIC   AND  CAMDEN. 

A  city  liuilf  with  such  propitious  rayj 
Will  stand  to  see  old  walls  and  happy  daysj 
But  kingdoms,  cities,  men  in  every  stale 
Are  suhject  to  vicissitudes  of  fate; 
An  envious  cloud  may  shade  the  smiling  morn, 
Though  fates  ordaiji  the  beaming  sun's  return. 
Jacob  TavlOr's  Horoscope  of  Philadelphia. 

In  May,  1682,"'  the  province  having 
become  quite  populous,  the  Assembly 
divided  it  into  two  jurisdictions,  or  coun- 
ties, to  each  of  which  they  assigned  a 
court  of  quarter  sessions,  a  sheriff'  and 
a  clerk  or  recorder.  The  jurisdictions 
took  their  names  from  the  only  two  towns 
then  built  in  West  Jersey,  to  wit:  Bur- 
lington  and  Salem.  The  inconvenience 
to  which  the  concentration  of  the  public 
business  at  these  distant  places  must  have 
subjected  the  people  of  the  third  and 
fourth  precincts  is  obvious;  and  we  can- 
not wonder  that  our  sturdy  forefathers 
seized  upon  the  first  opportunity  offered 
by  disturbances  in  the  provincial  govern- 
ment, to  administer  a  remedy  for  them- 
selves. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  November, 
168.5,  the  Assembly  met,  but  adjourned 
the  same  day  on  account  of  the  sharp- 
ness of  the  season. t  It  did  not  convene 
again  until  the  third  of  November,  1692; 
the  province  being  in  the  mean  while  in 
great  confusion,  from  the  attempt  made 
by  Billinge  to  assume  the  government 
entirely  into  his  own  hands. 

Soon  after  this  state  of  things  began, 
on  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  May,  1686, 
the  proprietors,  freeholders  and  inhabi- 
tants, generally  of  the  territory  lying 
between  the  Pensaukin  and  OJdinan's 
Creek,  met  at  Arwames  and  formed  what 
may  be   termed  a  county  Constitution. 

•  Learning  and  Spicer,  p.  447. 
t  Idsm,  p.  .5n3. 


THE  TOWN  or  GLOUCaSTKR. 


36 


Tliis  curious  instrument,  comprising  in 
all  but  ten  short  paragraphs,  not  only 
regulated  the  marking  of  hogs  and  other 
cattle — a  precaution  to  which  the  ab- 
sence of  fences  in  those  primitive  days 
gave  considerable  importance— but  erect- 
ed the  two  precincts  into  a  county,  or- 
dained a  regular  court,  provided  officers 
similar  to  those  already  employed  in  the 
jurisdictions  of  Salem  and  Burlington, 
and  prescribed  the  minutiae  of  legal 
practice."""  This  was  the  origin  of  Old 
Gloucester — the  only  county  in  New 
Jersey  that  can  deduce  its  existence  from 
a  direct  and  positive  compact  between 
her  inhabitants. 

"It  would  seem,"  a  historian  remarks 
in  commenting  upon  this  unique  paper,f 

*  The  following  is  a  literal  copy  of  this  Con- 
Btitulion.  as  it  is  recorded  in  Book  A  sub  initio  of 
Court  Miriutes  at  Woodbury: 

Gloucf.ster,  yc  28lh  May,  1686, 

By  the  Propryetors,  Freeholders  and  Inhabi- 
tunts  oflhe  Third  and  Fourth  Tenths  (alias  coun- 
ty ofGlouceste-)  then  Agreed  as  followeth  : 

Imprimis — That  a  Court  be  hild  for  the  Juiis- 
diclion  and  l<imits  of  the  aforesaid  Tenths  or 
County,  one  tyme  at  Axwamus  alias  Gloucester, 
and  another  tyme  at  Red  Bank. 

Item — That  there  be  lower  courtes  for  the  Ju 
risdiction  aforesaid  held  in  one  year  at  ye  days 
and  times  hereafter  mentioned  viz:  upon  the  first 
day  of  the  first  Month,  upon  ye  first  day  of  ye 
fourth  mimth,  on  the  first  day  of  the  seventh  month 
and  upon  ye  first  day  oflhe  tenth  month. 

Itenj— That  the  first  Court  shall  be  held  at 
Gloucester  aforesaid  upon  the  first  day  of  Septem- 
ber  neXt. 

Item — That  all  warrants  and  sumons  shall  be 
dravvne  by  the  Clarke  of  the  Courte  and  signed  by 
the  Justice  and  soe  delivered  to  the  Sheriff  or  his 
Deputy  to  Execute. 

Item — That  the  bodye  of  each  warrant  etc. 
filiall  contayne  or  intimate  the  nature  of  the  action. 

Iter.) — I'hat  a  coppy  of  the  Dsclaration  be  giv- 
en along  witli  ye  warrant  by  the  Gierke  of  the 
Court,  that  soe  the  Defendant  may  have  the  long- 
er  tyme  to  considder  the  same  and  prepare  his  an- 
swer. 

Item — That  all  sumons,  warrants,  etc.  shall  be 
..served  and  Declarations  given  at  least  ten  days 
before  the  Court. 

Item — That  the  Sheriffe  shall  give  the  Jury 
summons  six  days  before  the  court  be  held  on 
which  they  are  to  appear. 

Item — 'I'hat  all  persons  within  ye  Jurisdiction 
aforesaid  bring  into  the  next  courte  yc  mark  of 
tiieir  Hoggs  and  other  Callell,  in  order  to  be  ap- 
proved and  Recorded. 

f  Gordon's  Gaz.  tit.  Gloucester. 


"that  the  inhabitants  of  the  county 
deemed  themselves  a  body  politic,  a  de- 
mocratic commonwealth ,  with  full  pow- 
ers of  legislation."  And  that  such  was 
their  opinion  even  after  the  resettling  of 
the  provincial  government  in  1692,  will 
abundantly  appear  by  the  extracts  from 
the  county  records  which  we  shall  give 
in  the  next  chapter.  The  courts  and 
grand  juries  which  sat  at  Red  Bank  and 
Arwames  would  have  been  formidable 
tribunals  indeed,  but  for  the  stern  integ- 
rity with  which  they  exercised  their  ex- 
orbitant authority.  We  must  confess, 
however,  that  the  justices,  who  were 
elected  by  the  people  under  the  forty- 
first  chapter  of  the  Concessions,  seem  to 
have  been  too  complaisant  to  the  juries 
grand  and  petit,  under  their  direction. 
Whether  it  be  a  verdict  turning  a  free- 
man into  a  slave,"""  or  a  presentment  lay 
ing  the  most  considerable  tax,t  the  wor- 
thy clerk  has  but  one  footing  up:  "To 
all  which  ye  Bench  assents." 

The  government  of  the  state  of  Glou- 
cester, having  now  a  name,  of  course 
wanted  the  other  essential  of  respecta- 
bility, "a  local  habitation,"  This  was 
fixed  "by  the  joyntt  consent  of  the  pro- 
prietors," who  during  the  interregnum 
in  the  provincial  government  fixed  ev- 
erything, at  Arwames.  A  splendid  city, 
reaching  from  the  Quinquorenning  or 
Newton  Creek  to  the  Sassackon  or  Lit- 
tle Timber  Creek — with  ten  streets  run- 
ning east  and  west,  and  two  north  and 
south,  and  with  a  famous  Market  place 
three  chains  square — was  laid  out  by 
Thomas  Sharp  in  16S9.  The  whole  plot 
was  divided  into  ten  equal  shares,  to 
correspond  with  the  number  of  proprie- 
ties ;  and  on  the  east  side,  in  conformity 
with  the  good  old  notions  of  the  father- 
land, a  space  was  consecrated  to  the 
gambols  of  the  school-boys  of  future 
ages,  under  the  name  of  Town  Bounds. ;{; 

It  did  not  escape  the  observation  of  the 
ever  vigilant  grand  jury  that  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  public  required,  in  addition 
to   the   said  Market  Place  and  Town 

*  Minutes  for  Dec.  Term,  at  Red  Bank,  1686. 
+  See  Justices'  and  Freeholders'  Minutes,  I3th 
Feb.  1704. 

X  Vide  draft  on  the  following  paj;e. 


Vnt  TOW.V  OK  GLOL'CBSTKR. 


Bir*iD|>  beluDKinr  lo  J.  Si.  W.  Harruoc 
S.  t.50  J.     25Chavue«. 


mm 


mm 


=5P 


John  Reading,  4th  Jan.  1689. 
Bamuel  Harrison,  upon  .«ever 


John  Reading 
Will.  Raydon.  4th  8th  mo.  1G89, 


JihuJl?.l4.'Pt 


idiiu  am,  c«diini  Ueloiijiiig  lo  Jouu  Mt^ailing. 


PUBLIC  BUILDIN'aS. 


57 


Bounds,  a  jail  wherein  to  lock  up  the 
unruly.  And  therefore,  at  a  court  held 
in  the  new  town  on  the  second  day  of 
December,  16S9,  they  did  in  due  form 
"Present  ye  County  of  Gloucester  for 
their  not  erecting-  a  common  j^oale  for 
the  securing:  of  prisoners;"  whereupon, 
the  clerk  tells  us  "Daniel  Reading  un- 
dertakes to  build  a  goale  or  log-g-hoiise 
of  fifteen  or  sixteen  foot  stjuare,  provided 
he  may  have  one  lott  of  Land  conveyed 
to  him  and  his  heirs  forever;  and  3e  sd 
house  to  serve  for  a  prison  till  ye  County 
makes  a  common  g^eole,  or  until  3'e  sd 
logge  house  shall  with  age  be  destroyed 
or  made  insufficient  for  that  purpose. 
And  Wm.  Royden  undertakes  to  convey 
ye  lott,  he  being  paid  three  pounds  for 
the  same  at  or  before  ye  next  courte.- " 
The  place  thus  provided  answered  as 
a  gaol  until  December,  1695,  when  it 
was  "ordered  that  a  prison  be  with  all 
convenient  expedition  built,  sixteen  feet 
long,  twelve  feet  wide  in  the  clear,  and 
eight  foot  high;  to  be  made  of  loggs, 
with  a  floor  of  loggs,  above  and  below 
covered  with  cedar  shingles,  and  a  par- 
tition in  the  middle. "f  The  courts  had 
hitherto  been  held  at  taverns  or  at  pri- 
vate houses;  but  on  the  first  of  June, 
1696,  the  pi'eceding  order  was  remodel- 
led, so  as  to  require  "a  prison  of  twenty 
foot  long  and  sixteen  wide,  of  a  sufficient 
heighth  and  strength,  made  of  loggs,  to 
he  erected  and  builded  in  Gloucester — 
with  a  Court  House  over  the  same  of  a 
convenient  height  and  largeness,  co- 
vered of  and  with  cedar  shingles,  well 
and  workmanlike  to  be  made,  and  with 
all  convenient  expedition  finished — Mat- 
thew Medcalfe  and  John  Heading  to  be 
overseers  or  agents  to  lett  the  same  or 
see  the  said  buildings  done  and  per- 
formed in  manner  aforesaid,  they  to  have 
money  for  carrying  on  of  the  said  work 
of  the  last  county  tax."  On  the  lifth  of 
October,  1708,  we  find  the  following 
record:  "We,  the  Grand  Jury  for  the 
County  of  Gloucester,  being  mett  toge- 
ther at  Gloucester  to  concider  of  the 
present  imergancies  of  the  same,   doe 

*  Woodbury  Records,  book  A  of  Court  Minutes. 
+  Hist,  Coll.  of  New  Jersey,  p.  209. 


consider  itt  necessary  that  an  addition, 
be  made  to  the  Prison  and  Courtt  House 
in  manner  following,  viz.  That  it  joyne 
to  the  south  end  of  the  ould  one,  to  be 
made  of  stone  and  brick,  twelve  foot  in 
the  cleare,  and  two  story  high,  with  a 
stack  of  chimneys  joyning  to  the  ould 
house.  And  that  itt  be  uniform  from  ye 
foundation  lo  the  Court  House." 

To  carry  on  this  improvement  the 
grand  jury  levied  a  tax  of  one  shilling 
upon  every  hundred  acres  of  land,  one 
shilling  for  every  horse  and  mare  over 
three  years  old,  sixpence  per  head  for 
neat  cattle,  two  pence  for  each  sheep, 
three  shillings  for  each  freeman  in  ser- 
vice, and  three  shilling-s  for  each  negrro 
over  twelve  years  old,  "to  be  paid  in 
current  silver  money  or  corn,  or  any 
other  country  produce  at  money  price, 
to  be  delivered  and  brought  in  to  the 
county  treasurer  at  his  dwelling  house." 
Our  ancestors  however  had  begun  to  ^et 
proud,  and  did  not  therefore  remain  long 
satisfied  with  their  public  buildings,  even 
as  improved.  On  "the  fifth  of  the  se- 
cond month  called  April"  171.5,  the  jus 
tices  and  Freeholders  concluded  to  build 
a  goal  "twenty  four  foot  long  in  the 
cleare,  and  the  wall  in  the  full  height 
from  the  foundation  nine  foot  high  and 
two  foot  thick,  well  done  with  good  mor- 
tar of  lime  and  sand.  And  to  lay  the 
upper  and  under  floors  with  the  planks 
of  the  old  prison,  to  make  a  good  roof 
to  it,  and  necessary  doors  and  windows. 
And  to  remove  the  court  house  where 
the  new  prison  is  to  stand,  and  to  re- 
payve  the  same  as  shall  be  needfull."'^'' 
The  new  county  capitol  was  finished  in 
1719,  but  failing  from  some  cause  or  other 
to  please  the  justices  and  freeholders,, 
they  ordered  it  in  December  of  tiiat  year 
"to  be  pulled  down  to  ye  lower  floor,, 
and  rebuilt  upon  the  same  foundation 
with  gfood  fresh  lime  and  sand."  We 
find  about  this  time  the  following  entry 
upon  the  Clerk's  Book  of  the  county  le- 
gislature: "It  is  agreed  by  this  meeting' 
that   a   payor   of  substantial   stocks  be 

*  The  old  court  house  and  prison  was  Fold  in 
Mnrch  1719,  to  William  Harrison  for  eight 
pounds. 


38 


THE  ERECTION  OP  ATLANTIC  AND  CAMDEW. 


erected  near  the  prison  with  a  post  at 
each  end,  well  fixed  and  fastened  with 
a  hand  cuff"  iron  att  one  of  them  for  a 
whifpin^-post."  In  1736  the  board  or- 
dered a  yard,  a  watch  house,  a  work- 
shop, and  a  piinip  to  be  added  to  the 
public  pro]  eriy;  and  these  we  believe 
are  the  last  material  improvements  made 
to  the  loa'^-hoiisc,  which  has  led  us  into 
so  lon^  a  dij^ression.'''" 

In  1092  the  statute  erecting  Cape 
May  into  a  county  indirectly  sanctioned 
the  irregular  proceedii)gs  of  the  Glouces- 
ter men  in  associating  themselves  toge- 
ther, by  reciting  that  the  province  had 
"been  formerly  divided  into  three  coun- 
ties."! In  the  same  year  tlie  boundaries 
of  Gloucester  were  partially  defined,  by 
a  law  making  Pensaukin  the  division  line 
between  it  and  Burlington;  but  there  be- 
ing "a  great  inconveniency  seen  in  that 
act,"  it  was  repealed  by  its  framers  at 
their  next  session /[:  'Ihus  the  matter 
rested  tmtil  IGQI,  when  two  laws  were 
passed  relatiug  to  Gloucester:  thefirst^ 
enacting  "that  the  two  distinctions  or  di- 
visions heretofore  called  the  Tljird  and 
Fourth  Tenths  be  and  is  hereby  laid  into 
one  county,  named,  and  from  hencelbrth 
to  be  called,  The  County  of  Glouces- 
ter; the  limits  whereof  bounded  with 
the  aforesaid  river  called  Crapwell,  (for- 
merly called  Penisawkin)  on  the  north, 
and  the  River  Berkley,  (formerly  called 

*  The  court  hnosc  at  Gloncesfrr  a()pcars  never 
■lo  have  been  rn.idc  very  fomfnri.-ilile,  lor  t^n  Inle  as 
Dec.  I9lh.  1721,  we  find  llie  t'l.Ilowing  niiniiin:  — 
"I'riiclariiaiion  licing'  miiHe,  llicd.iirl  of  ('oriimoii 
Pleas  is  adjniirnid  milo  the  lioiise  ofMwry  >i)ey 
liy  reason  nf  the  cold,"  Mi'cliiig  as  tlie  worthy 
jusliecs  oflcn  did  at  six  o'clock  in  the  niorMiufj, 
it  is  no  wondrr  that  they  complained  of  tlie  frost./ 
See  Hook  B  of  Coiirl  minutes. 

tOldmixon,  wrilintr  in  1708,  says  of  West 
Jersey:  '•  It  is  not  divided  iiito  stiirea  as  Kasl  Jer- 
sey is;  till)'  IJr.  Cox  when  he  was  Pro|)rieliiry 
ordered  seven  counties  to  be  liid  out,  as  'Jii|ie 
May  (^^oiiiity,  Salhuin  ( 'oonly,  Gluucestcr  County, 
etc.,  but  his  successors  did  not  s."  o"  with  llie  pro- 
j(!Cl."  A'jain  he  says  •■  the  Irncl  of  1  md  heiwr  en 
Cape  Mny  and  Liule  E;;^  llarhour  poes  by  the 
nnine  of  Cnpe  IVfay  County;  but  we  do  not  nndir- 
sland  thai  'hi n;  is  any  otiicr  division  of  this  pro. 
-vince  honorirl  with  the  niune  of  rounty."  iJrit- 
ish  Empire  in  Annrica,  Vol.  I.  138. 

I  Learning  and  Spicer,  pp.  509,  513,  ^cc. 
(j  Idem,  p.  53^.'. 


Oldman's  Creek)  on  the  south."  It 
was  probably  intended  that  the  eastern 
boundary  of  this  county  should  be  a  right 
line  drawn  from  the  head-waters  of 
Pensaukin  to  the  head-waters  of  Old- 
man's  Creek.  We  are  sure  at  least  that 
Gloucester  did  not  reach  originally  to 
the  ocean;  for  the  second  law,"'  passed 
in  the  above  year,  is  in  the  following 
words:  "Forasmuch  as  there  are  some 
families  settled  upon  Egg  Harbour,  and 
of  right  ought  to  be  under  some  jurisdic- 
tion, be  it  enacted  by  the  authority  afore- 
said that  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  Egg 
Harbour  shall  be  and  belong  to  the  juris- 
diction of  Gloucester  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  till  such  time  as  they  shall  be 
capable,  by  a  competent  number  of  in- 
habitants, to  be  erected  into  a  county, 
any  former  act  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing." The  Egg  Harbour  country 
continued  in  this  dependent  state  until 
1710, t  when  another  law  was  made  in- 
corporating it  with  Gloucester.  An 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  years  after- 
wards the  people  on  the  seaboard 
thought  they  "had  a  competent  number 
of  inhabitants"  to  be  set  oflfas  a  separate 
county,  and  accordingly  Atlantic  was 
erected  in  1837.  On  the  thirteenth  day 
of  March,  1844,  the  new  county  of  Cam- 
den was  erected,  partly  to  accommodate 
the  fast  swelling  population  of  the  north 
and  north-western  townships,  and  part- 
ly to  secure  to  West  Jersey  her  just  share 
of  influc.ice  in  the  state  government. 

As  an  anti(|uarian,  who  does  not  re- 
gret— who  would  not  have  prevented — 
these  repeated  mutilations  of  old  Glou- 
cester's territory  ?  But  let  us  remember 
that  public  convenience  and  public  jus- 
tice are  considerations  paramount  to  any 
idle  feeling  like  this.  Let  us  show  that 
the  mere  interposition  of  metaphysical 
lines  can  never  divide  those  whose  hearts 
the  common  sufferings  and  the  common 
joys  of  a  century  and  a  half  have  united. 
The  people  of  Atlantic  and  Camden — 
the  daug-hters  of  Old  Gloucester — still 
claim  the  glory  of  her  name  as  in  part 
their  own — still  hope  from  her  the  return 
of  a  mother's  affections ;  and  he  who 

•  Idem,  p.  535. 

t Allison's  Laws,  p.  11, 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  MINUTES  OF  THE  C0UNT7  COURT. 


39 


would  deny  that  glory  or  disappoint  that 
hope  is  unworthy  of  his  birth  in  a  county 
so  ancient  and  so  favored. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  MINUTES  OF  THE 
COUNTY  COURT,  AND  OF  THE  BOARD  OF 
JUSTICES  AND  FREEHOLDERS. 


laetam  cognomine  gentera 
Horlxr  amaie  focos,  arctoique  aUolere  lectis. 
Jamque  fere  siccu  5ub(iuc(<e  liLlore  piippcsj 
Connuliijs  aivisque  iiovU  operata  juveiilus; 
Jura  doioosque  dabam. 

ViRG.  ^n.  III.  133. 


The  following  extracts,  while  they 
show  conclusively  that  our  ancestors  of 
the  county  of  Gloucester  deemed  them- 
selves, for  some  time  after  the  constitu- 
tion of  Arwames,  an  independent  go- 
vernment, with  power  to  prescribe  pun- 
ishments, levy  taxes,  fix  boundaries  and 
do  many  other  acts  equally  sovereign — 
also  throw  much  light  upon  the  moral 
and  physical  condition  of  the  early  Eng- 
lish settlers. 

At  a  Court  held  at  Red  Bank  on  the 
tenth  of  December,  168G,  "Andrew  VVil- 
kie  was  brought  to  ye  bar,  and  the  In- 
dictment against  him  for  ffeliony  being 
read,  he  pleaded  guilty  in  manner  and 
form."  Yet  a  jury  "was  empannelled, 
and  attested  upon  his  Triall  and  true 
deliverance  to  make  between  our  Lord 
the  King  and  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  etc. 

*' Verdict — The  jury  brought  in  An- 
drew Wilke  the  prisoner.  Guilty  in  the 
manner  and  form,  and  that  ye  said  pris- 
oner ought  to  make  pay  to  the  prosecu- 
tor the  sum  of  sixteen  pounds. 

*' Sentence — The  Bench  appoints  that 
ye  said  Wilkie  shall  pay  ye  aforesaid 
sixteen  pounds  by  way  of  servitude,  viz  : 
if  he  will  be  bound  by  Indenture  to  ye 
prosecutor,  then  to  serve  him  ye  terrae 
of  four  years,  but  if  he  condiscended 
not  thereto  then  ye  court  awarded  that 
he  should  be  a  servant  and  soe  abide  the 
terme  of  five  years,  and  to  be  accommo- 
dated in  the  tyme  of  his  servitude  by  his 
master  with  meat,  drink,  deaths,  wash- 
ing and  lodging  according  to  ye  customc 


of  ye  County,  and  fitt  for  such  a  ser- 
vant." 

The  felony  of  which  Wilkie  was  thus 
doubly  convicted  was  stealing  goods  of 
Denis  Lins;  and  the  sentence  therefore 
was  in  accordance  with  the  provincial  law 
of  1G81,  which  requires  thieves  to  render 
four  fold  restitution,  "or  be  made  work 
for  so  long  time  as  the  nature  of  the  of- 
fence shall  require.-'-'  We  have  been 
unable  hovvever  to  find  either  law  or 
custom  to  authorize  the  following  step, 
which  was  taken  at  a  court  held  at 
Gloucester,  on  the  first  of  December, 
1693: 

"  The  grand  jury  present  William 
Lovejoy,  for  that  contrary  to  the  order 
and  advice  of  the  Bench  he  doth  frequent 
the  house  of  Ann  Penstone,  and  lodge 
tliere,  none  being  in  ye  house  but  he  and 
ye  said  Ann  with  the  bastard  child. 
William  Lovejoy  solemnly  promises  to 
appear  at  the  next  court  to  be  held  at 
Gloucester,  and  to  be  of  very  good  be- 
haviour durmgthe  same  time." 

The  first  Coiu-t  held  under  the  consti- 
tution of  Arwames  was  in  September, 
16S6.  The  justices  tiien  present  on  the 
Bench  were  Francis  Collins,  Tliomas. 
Thackera,  and  John  W^ood.  The  jury 
list  returned  by  the  sherili  contained  the 
names  of  William  Hunt,  William  Bate,. 
William  Albertson,  William  Lovejoy, 
Henry  >)Vood,  Jonathan  Wood,  John 
Hugge,  .Tames  Atkinson,  Thomas  Sharp, 
Thomas  Chaunders,  George  Goldsmith, 
John  Ladde,  Daniel  Reading  John  Ithel, 
John  Beth  ell,  Thomas  Matthews,  Wil 
liam  Dalboe,  Anthony  Neilson,  John  Mat- 
son,  Thomas  Bull,  John  Taylor,  Wil- 
liam Salisbur}',  Matthew  Medcalfe  and 
William  Cooper.  At  this  term,  "upon 
ye  complaynt  of  Rebecca  Hammond 
against  her  late  master  Robert  Zane  for 
want  of  necessary  apparell,  as  alsoe  his 
failure  in  some  covenants  that  he  was 
obliged  by  his  indenture  to  perform — it 
was  ordered  yt  ye  said  Rob.  Zane,  be- 
fore ye  first  day  of  ninth  mon'.h  next 
should  finde  and  give  to  ye  said  Rebecka 
Hammond  apparell  to  the  vallue  of  three 

*  Leam.  and  Spic,  p.  434  ;  Gab,  Thomas  in  pre 
face  to  West  Jersey. 


410 


IITnACTS  FROM  THE  .MINUTES  OF  TUB  COUNTY  COURT. 


pounds,  seven  shillings  and  six  pence, 
and  a/soe  Jifty  acres  of  Umd  to  Jicr  and 
her  itfirs forever;  and  incase  ye  sd  Rob. 
shall  dislike  this  order,  tlien  to  sfafid  to 
and  abide  by  ye  act  of  Jissembhj  in  tlie 
like  case  provided.  Wlierenpon  ye  sd 
Rob.  Zane  did  at  last  declare  that  he 
would  comply  with  ye  aforesaid  order 
and  answer  ye  same." 

The  last  clause  of  the  county  constitu- 
tion, rclatinji^  to  hcg^,  not  havinj;  been 
obeyed  by  the  people,  the  clerk  was  or- 
■dered  at  this  court  "to  warne  in  those 
who  had  made  detuult,  to  hisowne  howse, 
and  there  take  account  and  rcj^ister  their 
markes."  Accordingly  each  ciiizen  who 
owned  any  of  those  animals  cut  their 
ears  accordinj^  to  fancy,  and  returned  a 
draft  to  Clerk  Sharp,  These  were  scru- 
pulously copied,  and  form  a  fantastic  por- 
tion of  the  county  records.  To  kill  a 
marked  ho^^,  even  thoug:h  its  owner 
was  unknown,  was  a  misdemeanor 
against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the 
county,  and  as  such  was  punished  by  line 
to  the  public  use.- 

On  the  first  of  March,  1691,  one  John 
Richards  was  found  guilty  of  perjury, 
and  sentenced  67/  tJiejvry  "to  i>ay  twenty 
pounds  fine  or  stand  in  ye  jjillory  one 
hour.  I'o  which  ye  bench  assents,  and 
ye  prisoner  chusing  to  stand  in  ye  pillo- 
ry, they  award  and  order  the  same  to  he 
in  Gloucester  on  ye  twelth  day  of  April 
next,  between  ye  hours  often  in  ye  morn- 
ing and  four  in  ye  afternoon,  and  conde- 
scend to  take  his  owne  bond  for  his  ap- 
pearance at  that  tyme  under  ye  penalty 
'anA  fortification  of  fifty  pounds." 

At  September  Term,  1690,  two  bur- 
glars having  been  convicted,  were  sen- 
tenced \o  be  "burnt  to  the  bone"  in  the 
hand  with  the  letter  T,  or  sold  for  five 
years  in  the  West  Indies:  the  thieves 
chose  tlie  latter. 

The  subjoined  extract  affords  a  strong 
instance  of  the  inde])endenc<;  claimed  by 
the  comity  during  the  disturbances  in  the 
provincial  government.  She  and  Hur- 
lington  seem  to  have  considered  tlit;  sub- 

•  Sco  Miiuiies  of  Court  at  Red  Hiink,  Dec. 
Term,  16SG,  where  three  of  the  most  re8pectnhlc 
Tiien  iti  itic  county  wore  fined  rpRpficfivcly  Iwrivr 
Wtiiiiid  buvcn  hliillinnH  for  thiH  offeiiditiji;. 


ject  of  county  boundaries  as  one  entirely 
within  the  scope  of  county  legislation. 
"At  a  court  held  at  Gloucester,  on  ye 
first  day  of  -ith  mo.,  16S9,  the  grand 
jury  having  information  that  the  persons 
formerly  appointed  by  ye  propryetors  for 
fixing  ye  line  of  division  between  ye 
counties  of  liurlington  and  Gloucester, 
have  agreed  upon  a  course  that  shall  de- 
termine ye  same,  Doe  in  pursuance 
thereof  order  that  upon  ye  seventeenth 
day  of  this  instant  ye  said  lines  hall  be  run, 
and  that  Thomas  Sharp  shall  be  surveyor 
for  ye  doing  thereof.  That  John  Walker 
and  John  llerititge  shall  mark  ye  trees, 
an  dthat  Francis  Collins,  Richard  Heri- 
tage, John  Key,  and  John  Wills  be  ap- 
pointed to  see  yt  the  same  be  duly  per- 
formed and  done.  And  also  tliat  it's 
judged  convenient  that  ye  people  in  Bur- 
lington County  may  liave  advice  hereof 
that  they  may  appear  to  see  that  afl'air 
completed  if  they  please.  To  all  which 
ye  Bench  assents,  and  order  the  pro- 
cedure thereof  in  manner  above  said." 
Two  years  before  the  above  proceed- 
ings was  had,  the  Burlington  men  had 
ofiended  those  of  Gloucester  by  holding 
pleas  of  crimes  belonging  to  the  juris- 
diction of  Arwames.  The  ofTicers  who 
had  contributed  to  this  insult  were 
promptly  dealt  with.  At  a  court  held  at 
Grloucester  on  the  first  of  December  1687, 
"The  grand  jury  present  John  Wood  and 
W' ill  Warner  for  conveying  forth  of  this 
county  two  prisoners  thereof,  namely, 
Henry  Treadway  and  Mary  Driner  lor 
their  tryall  at  Burlington  Court,  contrary 
to  the  rights  and  privileges  of  this  county, 
and  to  the  perverting  of  justice,  ^;c.  The 
Bench  orders  this  presentment  to  be  re- 
ferred to  the  next  court,  at  which  tyme 
ye  sd  John  Wood  is  ordered  to  appear." 
At  the  next  court  "The  presentment  of 
the  grand  jury  of  the  lust  court  as^uinst 
John  Wood  for  the  conyeying  of  Henry 
Treadway  and  Mary  Driner,  two  noto- 
rious delinqutmts  forth  of  this  county, 
tS'c,  to  the  destroying  of  ye  county's 
privileges,  &c.,  being  read,  the  said  John 
Wood  speaketh  as  followeth:  Sinie  I 
understand  that  (his  county  hath  taken 
ofTence  at  and  with  my  jtroceedings  con- 
rernin;^  Henry  Treadwiij- and  Mary  Dri- 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  MINUTES  OF  THE  COUNTS  COURT, 


41 


tier,  I  am  heartily  sorry  that  I  ever 
gave  them  that  cause  of  offence.  Ffor- 
asmuch  as  I  desig^ned  noe  prejudice 
against  tlie  county  nor  any  therein,  but 
that  it  was  my  ij^norance  that  occationed 
the  same,  I  doe  desire  the  sd  county 
would  be  pleased  to  remit  and  pass  by 
ye  same." 

The  following^  is  a  copy  of  the  first  tax 
act  passed  by  the  Grand  Jury,  or  as  we 
mij^ht  call  it,  the  Legislature,  of  the 
county, 

"Gloucester,  firstof  second  mo.,  1687: 
The  Courte  dissolved,  but  the  Grande 
Jury  having  something  under  considera- 
tion that  required  a  longer  tyme  to  de- 
liberate thereof,  they  now  adjourned  till 
the  fourteenth  day  of  the  same  month,  at 
which  time  appearing  they  agreed  and 
ordered  as  followeth; 

"Thatforthe  public  use  and  concerne 
of  the  County  of  Gloucester  there  should 
be  a  tax  levyed  ^nd  raised  upon  the  in- 
habitants thereof  in  manner  following — 

"That  every  owner  or  possessor  of 
lande  shall  y  ay  for  every  hundred  acres 
of  lande  that  shall  be  possessed,  taken  up 
or  surveyed,  the  sum  of  one  shilling. 
And  that  every  person  keeping  Catiell 
within  the  sd  county  of  Gloucester, 
whether  oxen,  horses  or  cowes,  being 
two  years  of  age,  shall  pay  for  every  head 
of  such  cattell  the  sum  of  two  pence. 
And  alsoe  that  all  free  men  having  neither 
lande  nor  cattell  shall  pay  the  sum  of  two 
pence.  And  alsoe  that  all  men  having 
neither  lande  or  cattell,  being  sixteen 
years  of  age,  shall  pay  for  their  owne 
heads  one  shilling  a  piece. 

"The  assessors  appointed  for  the  tax- 
ing of  every  man's  estate  as  aforesaid 
are  Richard  Heritage,  John  Key,  Thomas 
Sbarpe,  Andrew  Robeson,  jun.,  and  An- 
thony Neiison,  whoe  are  to  meet  together 
on  or  before  the  twentieth  day  of  the 
third  month  next,  in  order  to  assess  and 
leavy  the  said  tax. 

"The  treasurers  appointed  are  Henry 
Wood  and  Anthony  Neiison,  to  whom  ev- 
ery person  concerned  shall  bringe  in  their 
several  taxations  by  or  before  the  twenty- 
ninth  day  of  September  next,  either  in 
silver  money  or  in  come  at  the  prices  fol- 
lowing, viz4 


*\  d,  s.  d. 

Wheat  at         4  0    Gates  at         2  0 
Rye  3  0     Indian  Peas   5  0 

Barley  3  0    Buckwheat    2  6 

Indian  Corne  2  6 
And  in  case  any  person  shall  refuse  or 
neglect  to  bring  in  their  tax  as  aforesaid, 
it  shall  be  lawful!  to  distriene  upon  them 
for  double  the  vallue  with  all  such 
charges  that  shall  accrue  for  or  by  reason 
of  distress  soe  made,  and  any  one  that 
findes  himself  wronged  shall  repaire  to 
the  next  justice,  who  hath  power  to  re- 
dress their  agrievances.  And  the  Trea- 
surers are  hereby  ordered  to  have  for 
their  recieveing  and  disposal!  of  the  pay 
two  shillings  in  the  pound. 

"And  that  this  tax  when  recieved  shall 
not  be  disposed  on  but  by  the  consent, 
knowledge,  and  appointment  or  aproba- 
tion  of  the  Grand  Jury  for  the  tyme  be- 
ing. 

"This  was  seen  and  approved  on  the 
fourteenth  day  of  April,  by  the  Justices 
aforesaid,  and  soe  the  Jury  was  dis- 
charged." 

The  Grand  Jury  continued  to  levy 
taxes  of  its  own  accord  until  1694,  when 
the  Assembly  vested  the  power  in  a  quo- 
rum of  the  County  Justice^,  "with  the 
advice,  concurrence  and  assistance  of 
the  Grand  Jury."-'-  In  1713  the  prerog- 
ative passed  by  statute  to  the  Justices 
and  Chosen  Freeholders, t  with  whom  it 
continued  to  reside  until  the  organization 
of  the  Board  of  Freeholders  upon  its 
present  footing  on  the  thirteenth  of  Feb- 
ruary, "179S.|  On  the  eleventh  of  De- 
cember, 1733,  we  find  upon  the  minutes 
of  the  Board  then  legislating  for  the 
county  the  subjoined  act:  "The  justices 
and  freeholders  have  appointed  George 
Ward  and  Constantino  Wood  to  be  man- 
agers to  repair  Timber  Crick  Bridge; 
and  also  that  fifty  pounds  shall  be  raised 
to  defray  the  charge  of  the  said  repair, 
and  for  and  towards  other  county  charges, 
in  manner  following,  viz:  Single  men 
one  shilling  and  six  pence  each ;  servants 
four  pence  each.     3Ierchants  as  follow- 

*  Learn,  and  Spic,  p.  52S. 

tFeb.  28th,  Allison's  Laws,  p.  14.. 

t  Patterson'e  Laws,  p.  265. 


4% 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  MINUTES  OP  THE  COUNTY  COITRT. 


etb,  viz:  John  Brown  of  Gloucester  ten 
shillings,  Sarah  Norris  five,  Timothy 
Matlack  ten,  Michael  Fisher  five,  C. 
Taylor  ten.  Mills  as  followeth,  viz: 
Bennet's  mill  four  shillings,  Cole's  mill 
four,  Child's  mill  four,  Key's  mill  four, 
Andrew  Ware's  mill  two,  Richard  Chees- 
nian's  mill  three,  George  Ward's  mill 
five,  Griffith's  mill  one  and  six  pence,  I. 
Cousen's  mill  two,  Israel  Ward's  mill  two, 
S.  Shiver's  mill  four,  Somers'  mill  three, 
Stileman's  mill  one  and  six  pence,  Fish- 
er's mill  four,  Breache's  mill  two.  Ta- 
verns  as  followeth,  viz  :  T.  Perrywebb's 
ten  shillings,  Medcalf's  ten,  Wheeldon's 
ten,  Griffith's  one,  Sarah  Bull's  two,  E. 
Ellison's  five,  Tatem's  ferry  seven  and 
six  pence,  Gerrard's  seven,  Taylor's  ten, 
Medcalf's  ferry  twelve.'"  We  learn 
from  a  similar  act  passed  in  1750  that 
there  were  then  in  the  county  fourteen 
stores  and  shops,  twenty-seven  mills, 
five  ferries,  and  over  twenty-five  ta- 
verns. 

The  first  ferry  licensed  by  the  county 
court  was  one  from  Gloucester  to  Phila- 
delphia in  1688.^  On  the  first  of  Jan- 
uary says  Clerk  Sharp,"It  is  proposed  to 
ye  bench  yt  a  feVry  is  very  needfull  and 
much  wanted  from  Jarsey  to  Philadel- 
phia, and  yt  William  Roydon's  house  is 
looked  upon  as  a  place  convenient  for, 
and  the  said  William  Roy  don  a  person 
suitable  for  that  employment;  and  there- 
fore an  order  desired  from  ye  Bench  that 
a  ferry  may  be  fixed,  &c.  To  which  ye 
Bench  assents,  and  refers  to  ye  Grand 
Jury  to  methodize  ye  same,  and  fix-^the 
rates  thereof." 

In  1693  proposals  were  made  for  a 
ferry  over  Timber  Creek;  but  this  and 
the  one  before  established  across  the 
Delaware  seem  to  have  gone  down  before 
1695 ;  for  under  the  date  of  June  the  first 
of  that  year  we  read  as  follows: 

"The  Grand  Jury  consenteth  to  and 
presenteth  the  proposals  of  Daniel  Coop- 
er for  keeping  a  fcrryt  over  the  river  to 
Philadelphia  at  the  prices  following,  that 

•See  Barber  and  FTnwe's  New  Jersey,  p.  209. 
The  dates  in  this  book  are  not  always  to  be  de- 
l^ended  on. 

tThi»  iitho  middle  Ferry  r.ow  called  Engliah't 
Ferry. 


is  to  say:  For  a  man  and  horse,  one  shilling 
and  six  pence ;  for  a  single  horse  or  cow, 
one  shilling  and  three  pence  ;  for  a  single 
man,  ten  pence;  and  when  ten  or  more, 
six  pence  per  head;  and  six  pence  per 
head  for  sheep,  calfs,  or  hoggs.  To 
which  ye  bench  assents. 

"The  Grand  Jury  consenteth  to  and 
presenteth  ye  proposals  of  John  Read- 
ing for  keeping  a  ferry  over  Glocester 
River,  and  from  Glocester  to  Wickaco  at 
ye  prices  following,  That  is  to  say,  for 
a  single  man  and  horse,  two  shillings  and 
six  pence,  and  four  shillings  per  head  for 
more  than  one  horse  or  cow,  &c.  and 
one  shilling  and  six  pence  for  a  single 
man,  and  one  shilling  per  head  when 
more  than  one  from  Gloucester  to  Wick- 
acoe.  And  five  pence  per  head  for 
horses,  cows,  He,  and  two  pence  per 
head  for  man  without  horses  or  cattell 
over  Glocester  River.  To  all  which  ye 
Bench  assents." 

On  the  first  of  December,  1702,  the 
first  regular  ferry  over  Cooper's  Creek 
was  established  at  the  foot  of  School- 
house  Lane.  "John  Champion,"  says  the 
clerk,  "makes  great  complaint  of  his  great 
charge  in  setting  people  over  Cooper's 
Creek  at  his  house;  whereupon  ye  Grand 
Jury  propose  that  in  case  ye  sd  John 
Champion  will  find  sufficient  conveni- 
ences to  putt  people  over  at  all  seasons, 
the  said  Champion  may  take  for  ferriage 
as  follows,  viz:  For  two  persons  to- 
gether two  pence  per  head,  for  one  sin- 
gle person  three  pence,  and  for  a  man 
and  a  horse  five  pence.  To  which  ye 
Bench  assents." 

It  will  be  observed  that  no  mention  is 
made  in  any  of  these  regulations  of  car- 
riages. Such  refinements  were  not  in- 
troduced generally,  even  in  Philadelphia, 
until  the  revolution.^'  In  West  Jersey 
most  journeys  were  performed  on  horse- 
back; and  the  marriage  portion  of  the 
daughters  of  the  most  wealthy  men  gen- 
erally consisted  of  a  cow  and  a  side-sad- 
dle. Wheeled  vehicles  indeed  would 
have  been  of  but  little  use  in  a  country 
whore  roads  were  yet  full  of  trees,  and 
where  streams  had  but  few  if  any  bridges. 

•  Du  Simitr«'»  MSS. 


KXTRACTS  FROM  THE  MINUTES  OF  THE  COimTIT  COURT* 


4$ 


Funerals  were  frequently  attended  in 
boats ;  and  a  highly  respectable  gentle- 
man, late  of  Camden,*^'  distinctly  remem- 
bered a  burial  of  the  kind  which  took 
place  in  his  boyhood.  The  deceased 
lived  upon  Cooper's  Creek  near  the  head; 
his  coffin  was  placed  in  a  barge,  and 
rowed  around  to  the  old  ground  upon 
Newton  Creek,  followed  by  several 
other  boats  containing  the  family  and 
friends. 

In  1701  occurred  the  first  murder  in 
the  county  of  Gloucester.  It  seems 
from  the  record  that  it  was  a  case  of 
infanticide ;  but  what  was  done  with 
the  guilty  mother  is  not  very  clear. 
The,  cause  was  tried  at  Gloucester  by 
Lord  Cornbury  in  person  :f  and  on  the 
nineteenth  of  December  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing minute:  "We,  the  Grand  Jury  for 
the  County  of  Gloucester  doe  t)rder 
eighteen  pence  to  by  twelve  bushels  of 
charcoal  for  the  prisoner,  and  two  pounds 
and  two  shillings  to  by  three  match  coats 
for  the  prisoner's  use  so  long  as  shoe 
hath  occasion  for  it,  and  then  to  be  re- 
served for  the  county's  use.  We  allow 
seven  shillings  and  six  pence  to  the  Clerk 
for  five  warrants  to  the  Collector  to  ga- 
ther the  above  tax.  We  further  allow 
Matthew  Medcalfe  twelve  shillings  and 
six  pence  for  defraying  the  Lord  Corn- 
bury's  retinue's  expenses  when  he  was 
lately  at  Gloucester;  and  six  shillings  to 
John  Siddon  for  a  coffin  for  the  mur- 
thered  child,  and  six  shillings  more  we 
allow  him  by  discount  of  his  old  tax  in 
the  year  1694,  for  bringing  the  Justices 
and  Coroner  to  Gloster.  We  also  allow 
eight  pounds  twelve  shillings  and  four 
pence  for  defraying  the  Lord  Cornbury's 
and  his  attendance's  expenses  when  he 
was  lately  at  Glou'^ester.":}: 

The  clerk  was  required,  among  a 
thousand  other  duties,^  to  keep  a  regis- 


try of  the  marriages  and  births  happening 
in  the  county.  The  following  are  true 
copies  of  some  of  these  records : — 

The  thirteenth  of  ye  first  month,  anna 
16S7.  Samuel  Taylor  and  Elizabeth 
Ward  now  then  married  together  accord- 
ing  to  the  good  and  laudable  rules  and 
laws  of  the  Province  of  West  Jarsey  in 
that  case  made,  before  Francis  Collins, 
one  of  ye  King's  Magistrates  for  ye  Coun- 
ty of  Gloucester,  and  in  the  presence  of 
John  Richards.  Phillis  Richards,  James 
Warde,  Thomas  Thackera,  John  Hugge, 
George  Goldsmith,  .Jonathan  Wood.  ^c. 
John  Reading,  Recorder. 

Province  of  West  Jersey. 

John  Burroughs,  the  son  of  John  Bur- 
roughs and  Jane  his  wife,  of  Glocester 
River,  in  ye  County  of  Glocester,  was 
born  ye  fourteenth  day  of  March,  Anno, 
16S7.        Entr.  pr.  me, 

John  Reading,  Re, 
Testis, 
John  Ashbrook, 

The  sixteenth  of  November,  anno, 
1697.  This  may  certify  whom  it  may  con- 
cern that  I,  George  Ward,  of  ye  Towne 
of  Upton,  and  County  of  Gloucester, 
and  Hannah  Waynwright  of  Woodbeiry 
Creek,  have  been  Published  according  to 
Law,  and  nothing  appearing  contrary  in 
any  wise  to  hinder  them,  they  have  pro- 
ceeded at  a  public  place  appointed  for 
that  purpose  as  foUoweth:  Ye  said 
George  standing  up  and  taking  ye  sd 
Hannah  by  ye  hand,  Saith  as  foUoweth  : 
I,  George  Ward,  in  ye  presence  of  God 
and  this  Assembly,  lake  Hannah  Wayn- 
wright to  be  my  Wife,  promising  to  be  a 
loueing  Husband  vntill  Death  sepperate ; 
and  She  ye  sd  Hannah  in  like  manner 
saith — I,  Hannah  Waynwright,  iu  y© 
presence  of  God  and  this  Assembly  take 
George  Ward  to  be  my  husband,  promis- 


•  Richard  M.  Cooper,  E.«q. 

+  Governor  Hiiriloke  held  the  GlmicGsfer  Court 
in  March  and  December  TerrnF,  1692,  and  Sep. 
ti;mbcr,  16^)4.  (jov.  Jeremiah  Bass  presided  at 
Sepieniber  Term,  1698  ;  and  Gov,  Andrew  Hain> 
iiton  in  March,  I7UU. 

X  Justices'  and  Freeholders'  Minutes,  Book  A. 

^  A  comparison  of  the  multifarious   duties   of 


the  poor  Recorder  with  his  slim  fee*  indoccd 
Clerk  Sharp  to  perpetrate  the  foilowinjf  distich, 
which  we  find  in  the  Book  containing  the  Mar- 
riages and  Births: — 

The  Clerk'i  Office  of  this  Couktjr  I  tbioft  I  oaj  ProcUim, 
Will  nat  at  Preieat  ihe  Ownw  of  itt  Losd  with  puch  a«in. 

T.  3. 


44 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  MINUTES  OF  THE  COUNTY  COUKT, 


ing  to  be  a  Loiieing  FfaithfuU  Wife  till 
Death  sepperate.         j,,, 

George  x  Ward. 

mark, 
her 

Hannah  x  Waynwrioht. 

mark. 

Persons  present  were 
John  Brown,  Israel  Ward,  William 
Ward,  John  Tatum,  Thomas  Gibs^on, 
Isaac  Wood,  Charles  Crossthwait, 
John  Ashbrook,  Thomas  Bull,  James 
Whitall,  Samuell  Tayler,  John  Eimo, 
Elizabeth  Tatum  and  Susannah  Wayn- 
,  Wright. 

December  ye  .first,  anno  1G97.  The 
within  certificate  was  ordered  to  be  re- 
corded By  Tiio.  Gardiner, 

Justice. 
December  Sth,  1697.    Entr.  Exam,  and 
Recorded  pr  me, 

John  Reading,  Rec. 
Testis,  John  Reading. 
The  subjoined  miscellaneous  extracts 
are  by  no  means  devoid  of  interest. 

"At  a  Court  held  at  Red  Bank  on  the 
tenth  of  ye  tenth  Month,  IGSG,  tbe  Grand 
Jury  present  the  neglect  of  JVJagistrates 
for  theire  not  making  a  full  Bench  on  ye 
first  day  of  this  instant,  for  which  cause 
ye  Court  was  yn  adjourned  till  this  pre- 
sent tenth  day." 

"At  ye  Court  held  at  Gloucester  (for 
ye  jurisdiction  thereof)  on  ye  first  day 
of  ye  fourth  month,  anno  16S6,  Divers 
Complaints  being  made  to  ye  Grand  Jury 
of  ye  great  loss  and  damage  which  the 
County  suflersby  reason  of  wolves,  they, 
with  ye  concurrence  of  ye  Bench,  1o  en- 
courage ye  destroying  of  them,  doe  or- 
der ye  severall  Treasurers  within  this 
county  to  pay  ten  shillins^s  for  every 
"Wolfe's  head  to  them  brought  forth  of  ye 
effects  of  ye  County  tax,  and  ye  clerk  is 
ordered  to  write  papers  to  publish  ye 
same." 

At  a  court  held  at  Gloucester  on  the 
first  of  December,  1701,  the  sTundjury 
presented  "Thomas  Wills  of  Gloucester 
for  selling  beer  by  wine  measure;  and 
allso  that  John  Roe  and  George  I.aw- 
rence  be  paid  for  two,  wolfe's  heads  by 
them  killed.  To  which  ye  Bench  as- 
sents." 
On  the  fifteenth  of  January,  1730,  the 


justices  and  freeholders  ordered  "Abra- 
ham Chatten  to  receive  ten  shillings  for 
treating  the  workmen  at  building  the 
work  or  watch  house,  and  that  John 
Kaighn  receive  forty  shillings  for  treating 
the  said  workmen." 

We  conclude  the  present  chapter  with 
the  following  ordinance,  which  shows 
how  our  fathers  were  wont  to  live  "a 
hundred  years  ago  or  more." 

JIN  ORDINANCE, 
Of  the  rotes  o/Liqnors  and  of  Eatobhs 
for  Mail,  and  Provendei  and  Pasture 
for  Horses,  to  be  open'd  and  kept  by  all 
the  Public  House  Keepers,  Inn  Keepers, 
or  Tavern  Keepers  in  the  County  of 
Gloucester  for  the  following  year — as 
ffolloweth,  viz: 

s.  d. 
Every  Pint  of  Madera  Wine,  1  0 

Every  Quart  Bowl  of  Punch  made  of 
Loaf  kSugar  and  good  Rum  and  iTresh 
Limes,  1  6 

Every  like  Bowl  of  Punch  made   with 

Litue  Juice,  1  4 

Every  Quart  ot  Mirabo  made  of  Musco- 
vado Su^ar,  0  S 
Every  Quart  of  Metheaiin,  1  0 
Every  Quart  of  Cydtr  Ruyal,                    0  S 
Every  Quart  oi  Esra  Punch,                      2  0 
Every  Quart  of  Milk  Punch,                     0  8 
Every  Quart  of  Cyder  from  1st  of  Sep- 
tember to  Isl  of  Jan'y,                           0  3 
From  the  1st  olJiin'y  lo  1st  of  Sep'r,  0  4 
Every  Quart  oC  Strong  Beer,                     0  4 
Every  Jill  of  Brandy,                                0  6 
Every  Jill  of  oilier  Cordial  Drams,          0  5 
Every  Jill  of  Rum,                                     0  3 
S  -And  sn  in  pioportion  for  jrrcater  ) 
\  or  .»stn:iller  qLiaiiliiies  of  eacli  sdrl.  \ 
Every   Breaklasl    of   (Tea,    Coflee,    or 

Cli'oculaie,  0  8 

Eveiy  Breakl'ast  of  other  victuals,  0  & 

Every  Hot  Dinner  or  Sgpptr  provided 
for  a  single  person,  wiih  a  jjini  of 
strong  Beer  or  Cyder,  1  0 

Every  Hot  Dinner  or  Supper  fora  Com- 
pany, wiih  a  quart  of  Strong  Beer  or 
Cyder  each,  1  0 

Every  Cold   Dinner  or   Supper,  with  a 

pint  of  Stioniz  Bt-er  or  Cyder  each,  0  8 
Every  Night's  LodginiJ — each  Person,   0  3 

HORSES,   &c. 
Stal)ling  every  h'.trse   each   night,  and 

Ctoctr  hiiy  enough^  0  3 

Stabling  each  Night,  and  other  Hay 

enough,  0  6 


THE  ERECTION  OF  THE  SIX  ORIGINAL  TOWNSHIPS. 


45 


Every  nijjht's  Pasture  for  a  Horse,  0  6 

Every   two  quaits    of  Oats,   or  other 
Grain,  0  3 

Adopted  at  the  Court  of  General  Ses- 
sions and  County  Court,  tfic,  held  at 
Gloucester  the  eighth  June,  Ann.  Dom. 
1742. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  ERECTION  OF  THE  SIX  ORIGINAL  TOWN- 
SHIPS, AND  HEREIN  OF  WATERFOUD. 

Som<!  hooks  are  lies  frac  end  to  end, 
And  some  great  lies  were  nevei  ^enn'd. 
***** 
■  But  this  that  I  am  jaiin  to  tell 
Is  just  as  true's  the  Diel's  in  Hell 
Or  Dublin  Citv. 
BuUNs'  Death  and  Dr.  Hoi-nhook, 

On  the  first  of  June,  1695,  the  follow- 
ing minute  occurs  upon  the  records  of 
the  court  of  Gioucester  County:  "The 
Grand  Jury  return  and  present  that 
whereas  there  was  a  law  made  ye  last 
assembly  for  dividing  of  ye  counties  into 
particular  townships,  I'herefore  they 
agree  and  order  that  from  Pensoakin, 
alias  Cropwell  River,  to  the  lowermost 
branch  of  Cooper's  Creek  shall  be  one 
constabulary  or  township;  and  from  ye 
said  branch  of  Cooper's  Creek  to  ye 
southerly  branch  of  Newton  Creek,  bor- 
dering Glocester,  shall  be  another  con- 
stablewick  or  township;  and  from  ye 
said  Newton  Creek  branch  to  ye  lower- 
most branch  of  Glocester  River  shall  be 
another  constablewick  or  township;  and 
from  ye  said  branch  of  Glocester  River  to 
Great  Mantoe's  Creek  shall  be  another 
township;  and  from  Great  Mantoe's 
Creek  to  Barclay  River  another  town- 
ship. And  for  the  year  ensuing  is  nom- 
inated Edward  Burroughs  constable  in 
ye  upper  township;  Jeremiah  Bate  con- 
stable in  Newton  Township,  and  William 
Bate  and  Thomas  Sharpe  for  regulating 
and  laying  forth  of  highways;  Ellas  Hiigg 
constable  in  Glocester  Township;  and 
William  Chester  fcryenext  below,  called 
,  and  Jacob  Cozens  for  Green- 
wich. To  all  which  ye  Bench  assents." 
The  first  of  these  townships  soon  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Waterford ;  and  the 


fourth  that  of  Deptford,  or,  as  it  was 
originally  spelled,  Deadford.  In  1708, 
we  also  find  mention  made  of  the  town- 
ship of  Egg  Harbour,  or  New  Weymouth. 
The  Grand  Jury  in  appointing  officers 
for  this  distant  and  independent  territory 
was  clearly  guilty  of  usurpation ;  but  the 
Egg  Harbour  people  made  no  resistance, 
and,  as  we  have  seen,*  in  two  years  af- 
terwards an  act  of  Assembly  healed  all 
defects  by  a  law  annexing  them  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  county  of  Gloucester. 

It  is  our  purpose  now  to  give  a  short 
sketch  of  each  of  these  six  ancient  consta- 
blewicks,  noting  down  vdiatever  maybe 
supposed  to  possess  any  thing  of  value 
or  interest  to  the  people  of  Old  Glouces- 
ter, or  whatever  may  contribute  to  nour- 
ish in  them  that  curiosity  in  the  annals 
of  their  homesteads,  which  is  at  once  a 
proof  of  patriotism  and  of  intelligence. 
And  firstly  of  Waterford. 

This  township  deiives  its  name  from  a 
fishing  town  on  the  Barrow,  in  Ireland.! 
It  was  settled  at  an  early  period  by  the 
Coles,  Ellises,  Kays,  Spicers,  Morgans, 
Champions,  Heritages,  and  other  fami- 
lies which  are  still  extant.  The  first  lo- 
cations were  made  upon  Cooper's  Creek, 
and  in  the  neighborhood  of  Colestown, 
where  was  established  the  first  Episco- 
palean  church  in  the  county.  It  was  in 
this  church  that  the  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Evans,  the  friend  of  Godfrey,  and  the 
only  poet  we  believe  who  has  ever  sung 
of  Old  Gloucester,  usedto  preach.  This 
gentleman  was  born  in  Philadelphia  in 
1742 — took  the  degree  of  A.  M.  in  the 
college  of  his  native  city — went  to  Eng- 
land soon  afterwards,  and  was  admitted 
into  holy  orders  by  Dr.  Terrick,  Bishop 
of  London.  He  returned  to  Philadel- 
phia in  December,  1765,  and  immediately 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  a  mission  in 
Gloucester,  New  Jersey.  He  closed  his 
blameless  life  on  the  twenty  ninth  of  Oc- 
tober, 1767.  "He  published  a  volume  of 
poems,'*  says  Mr.  Wharton, J  "in  1770, 
most  of  which  may  be  read  now  with 
pleasure.  If  not  remarkable  for  energy 
or  originality,  the    vivida    vis    animiy 

*  An(e,  p.  38. 

f  Make  Brtin,  Vol.  VI.  p.  800. 

X  Penn.  Register,  Vol.  VI.  p.  147. 


46 


WATKRFORD  TOWNSHIP. 


they  are  smooth  and  polished,  and  indi- 
cate the  possession  of  a  refined  taste 
and  lively  imagination." 

The  river  front  or  VNaierford  is,  for  mid- 
Jersey,  (|uite  picturesriue;  the  land  being 
high,  and  butting  boldly  upon  the  water. 
At  Pea  Shore — which  the  fish-trees  of 
Campanius  has  made  classic  ground — 
stands  the  Pleasure  House  of  the  "Tam- 
many Fishing  Company,"  where  parties 
frequently  resort  during  the  summer  from 
Philadelphia.  The  club  had  its  origin 
in  that  old  English  social  feeling  which 
so  strongly  marked  the  generation  of  our 
grandfathers.  It  was  instituted  before 
the  Revolution,  and  still  exists,  we  be- 
lieve, in  full  vigor.  The  name  was  taken 
from  Tamane,  a  great  Delaware  chief, 
who  is  said  to  have  died  somewhere  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  club's  castle. 
This  is  perhaps  mere  fancy.  "The  fame 
of  this  great  man,"  says  Heckwelder,"- 
extended  even  among  the  whites,  who 
fabricated  numerous  legends  respecting 
him,  which  I  never  heard,  however,  from 
the  mouth  of  an  Indian,  and  therefore 
believe  to  be  fabulous.  In  the  revolu- 
tionary war  his  enthusiastic  admirers 
dubbed  him  a  saint,  and  he  was  estab- 
lished under  the  name  of  St.  Tammany, 
the  patron  saint  of  America.  His  name 
was  inserted  in  some  calenders,  and 
his  festival  celebrated  on  the  first  day  of 
May  in  every  year.f  On  that  day  a  nu- 
merous society  of  his  votaries  walked 
together  in  procession  through  the  streets 
of  Philadelphia,  their  hats  decorated 
with  bulks'  tails,  and  proceeded  to  a 
handsome  rural  place  out  of  town,  which 
they  called  the  Wigwam;  where,  after  a 
loni::  talk  or  Indian  speech  had  been  de- 
livered, and  the  calumet  of  peace  and 
friendship  had  been  duly  smoked,  they 
spent  the  day  in  festivity  and  mirth.  Af- 
ter dinner  Indian  dances  were  performed 
on  the  green  in  front  of  the  Wigwam,  the 
calumet  was  again  smoked,  and  the  com- 
pany separated."  Tliis  Tamane  was  in 
Philadelphia  in  1694,  and   delivered  a 

•  Hist.  AfC  in  Trans,  of  the  Hist.  anH  Lit. 
Comtn.  ..(■  ihe  Am.  Fliil.  Soc,  Vol.  1.  p.  'J98. 

i  See  Mem.  of  Gloucceter  Fox  Hunting  Club, 
p.  43. 


speech  before  Markham  and  the  other 
magnates  of  the  new  city;*  after  which 
we  hear  no  more  of  him  in  history.f 

The  people  of  Waterford  were  in  the 
Revolution  staunch  whigs,  and  as  such 
was  particularly  obnoxious  to  the  British. 
While  the  latter  occupied  Haddonfield 
in  1776,  most  of  the  houses  north  of 
Cooper's  Creek  were  searched  and 
sacked  by  the  foragers.  One  morning  a 
British  officer  went  to  the  dwelling  of 
the  Champions  and  demanded  the  best 
horse  the  farm  could  afford.  A  young 
unbroken  steed  was  brought  out  and 
saddled — the  officer  mounted  and  drove 
a  little  piece  to  a  pond  which  intercepted 
the  lane.  The  colt  here  became  unruly, 
and  the  officer  was  thrown  into  the 
muddy  pool.  As  a  revenge  fer  spoiling 
his  uniform,  he  commanded  his  men  to 
rob  the  house,  and  then  took  a  plough 
horse  and  rode  away. 

A  worthy  old  gentleman,  near  Ellis', 
having  a  good  deal  of  specie  which  he 
was  anxious  to  save,  from  some  Hessians, 
who  also  rendezvoused  at  Haddonfield, 
undertook  to  bury  it.  For  this  purpose 
he  went  out  at  midnight,  taking  with 
him,  unfortunately,  a  lantern  to  guide 
him.  Having  deposited  his  treasure  he 
returned  home;  but  the  next  morning  in 
passing  the  spot,  lo  !  he  beheld  his  gold 
was  gone.  The  whole  country  was  un- 
der strict  surveillance  day  and  night. 
The  old  man's  lamp  had  betrayed  him  to 
the  spies  who  were  lurking  about,  and 
they  had  dug  up  his  pot  almost  as  soon 
as  he  had  concealed  it. 

All's  fair,  however,  in  war,  and  it  waa 
seldom  that  the  enemy  got  ahead  of  the 
Yankee  boys  in  sharp  dealing.  A  Wa- 
terford man  hearing  that  some  British 
who  were  stationed  at  Mount  Holly  were 
in  need  of  flour,  started  ofT  with  ten  bags 

*  See  Colonial  Records  of  Pennsylvania,  Vol.  I. 
p.  410. 

t  A  forest  but  recently  felled  between  Camden 
and  f'cUtrvllle  was  called,  jis  longr  as  il  stood, 
bv  a  iiufue  but  liUie  corrupted  from  T'lmnne't 
Wnnd^.  Sn  great  was  'I'iiinane's  fiuiie  among 
the  Delaware's  ilial  when  lliey  wishfd  to  flatter  a 
prcat  while  mail  they  gave  him  the  appi'llatiori  of 
Tainmaiiy.  Col.  George  Morgan,  of  Princiton, 
was  ilius  honored  in  1776  by  the  Dolawirea  io 
the  far  w«st. 


INCIDENTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEWTON. 


47 


on  a  speculation.  The  ofBcer  opened 
each  sack,  took  out  a  handful  of  the 
flour,  pronounced  it  f^ood,  and  paid  a 
handsome  price.  The  speculator  was 
moving  off.  "Stop,"  said  the  officer, 
"you're  leaving  your  bags."  "You  need 
not  empty  them,"  said  the  countryman, 
"I'll  throw  the  bags  in  for  the  sake  of 
the  cause."  When  the  contents  came  to 
be  emptied  it  was  discovered  that  there 
was  only  a  small  portion  of  flour  upon 
the  top — the  rest  being  saw  dust ! 

It  was  related  to  the  Cooper  family 
when  they  first  arrived  in  West  Jersey, 
by  Indians  who  were  themselves  eye- 
witnesses, that  a  great  canoe-fight  had 
taken  place  upon  the  Delaware  opposite 
Waterford.  The  adverse  lines  reached 
entirely  across  the  river,  and  the  engage- 
ment lasted  many  hours  and  was  very 
bloody.  This  was  doubtless  in  the  war 
mentioned  by  De  Vries  and  Master  Ev- 
elin.  The  contending  parties  were  the 
Iroquois  and  the  Delawares;  the  former 
endeavoring  probably  to  acquire,  and  the 
latter  to  retain  the  mastery  of  the  Len- 
nape  Whittuck. 

The  township  of  Waterford  preserved 
its  integrity  longer  than  any  other  of  the 
original  constablewicks.  Until  the  set- 
ting off  of  Delaware  by  an  act  of  the  last 
legislature,  it  reached  from  the  river  to 
Atsion.  The  only  considerable  town  in 
either  the  old  or  the  new  division  is 
Long-a-comins:;  of  the  oris'in  of  which 
outlandish  name  our  worthy  friend  Henry 
Howe  of  New  Haven,  has  somewhere 
picked  up  the  following  account:  "One 
hundred  years  since,  more  or  less,  on  the 
noon  of  a  hot  summer's  day,  two  fatigued 
and  thirsty  pedestrians  were  toiling 
through  the  pine  forests  of  this  sandy 
region.  They  had  been  for  several  hours 
in  momentary  expectation  of  coming  to  a 
spring,  where  they  might,  like  true  teto- 
tallersand  on  all  fours,  slake  their  burn- 
ing thirst  and  then  repose  their  weary 
limbs ;  but  no  cool  bubbling  fountain  over- 
flowing with  Nature's  pure  beverage, 
greeted  their  aching  vision.  Thirsty 
and  weary  nigh  unto  faintness  they  were 
about  to  despair,  when  a  beautiful  spring 
came  in  view,  shaded  by  pendant  boughs, 
and  deeked  around  with  woodland  flow  • 


ers.  Hastily  throwing  aside  their  packs, 
they  bounded  to  the  spot,  exclaiming 
•Here  we  are  at  last,  though  long  a  corn- 
ins;.'  And  such,  says  tradition,  was  the 
origin  of  this  place."* 

The  Waterford  men  and  the  Burling- 
tonians  had  a  warm  dispute  about  1692, 
as  to  whether  the  south  or  the  north 
branch  of  the  Pensaukin  should  be  the 
county  line.  A  law  was  passedj  laying 
the  line  up  the  creek  to  the  forks — up 
the  southerly  branch  to  the  king's  road — 
up  said  road  to  the  northerly  branch — up 
to  the  head  of  the  same,  and  thence  due 
south-east  "to  the  utmost  boundaries  of 
the  counties."  This  made  the  Glouces- 
ter men  liable  to  the  entire  cost  of  the 
southerly  bridge,  instead  of  the  half. 
They  remonstrated — the  law  was  re 
pealed,  and  the  southern  branch  became, 
as  before  and  ever  since,  the  boundary. 
The  men  in  Waterford  appear  always  to 
have  had  considerable  spirit.  They  con- 
trived, when  in  1770  a  bridge  was  need- 
ed across  Cooper's  Creek  at  Spicer's 
Ferry,  on  the  neiv  road  from  Biirlinjjton, 
to  make  the  two  Coopers'  Ferries  in 
Newton  pay  one  tenth  of  the  expense, 
and  Burlington  county  three  hundred 
pounds  of  the  balance  ;|  while  all  Water- 
ford east  of  the  King's  Road  was  ex- 
pressly exempted. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


INCIDENTS   IN    THE    HISTORY    OF  NEWTON. 

Oh!  wond'rouj  days  of  old  romance. 

How  pleasant  do  ye  serm; 
For  sunlit  hours  in  summer  bowers, 

For  vvinler  nights  a  iheuie! 

HOWlTT's  Tomb  of  St.  George. 

Of  the  first  settlement  of  Newton 
Township,  old  Thomas  Sharp  has  left  us 
a  quaint  account.     "Let  it  be  remem- 

*  rii.storical  and  De.«icriptive  Letters  in  the  New 
Haven  Herald,  No,  II, 

t  Learn,  and  Spicer,  p.  513. 

J  See  Act  of  Assembly,  Allison's  F.aws,  p.  229. 
The  old  Kiiiff's  Road  beiwecn  Burlington  and 
Salem,  laid  out  by  act  of  assembly  in  1681,  was 
that  leadinfir  through  Colestown,  Ellisburg  and 
Iladdonfield.  It  probably  crossed  the  Rancocaa 
near  the  park  of  Gov.  Franklin,  See  Learn,  and 
Spjcer,  p.  427. 


48 


INCIDENT*  IN  THE  TTISTORT  OF  ^fB^^•TO^^ 


bered,"  says  he,  "it  having  wrouo^ht 
upon  ye  minds  of  some  friends  that  dweJt 
in  Ireland,  but  such  as  formerly  came 
thither  from  England;  and  a  pressure 
having^  laid  upon  them  for  some  years 
which  they  could  not  gett  from  under 
the  weight  of  until  they  ^ave  upp  to 
leave  their  friends  and  relations  there, 
ton^ether  with  a  comfortable  subsistence, 
to  transport  themselves  and  fiimclys  into 
this  wilderness  part  of  America,  and 
thereby  expose  themselves  to  difficulties, 
which,  if  they  could  have  been  easy 
where  they  were,  in  all  probability 
mi^ht  never  had  been  met  with;  and  in 
order  thereunto,  sent  from  Dublin  in 
Ireland,  to  one  Thomas  Lurtin,  a  friend 
in  London,  commander  of  a  pink,  who 
accordin^!y  came,  and  mada  an  agree- 
ment with  him  to  transport  them  and 
their  famelys  into  New  Jersey,  viz : 
Mark  Newby-  and  fameiy,  Thomas 
Thackara  and  fameiy,  William  Bate  and 
fameiy,  Georj^e  Goldsmith,  an  old  man, 
and  Thomas  Sharp  a  youn^  man,  but  no 
famelys;  and  whilst  the  ship  abode  in 
Dublin  harbor  providein<^  for  the  voy- 
aj^e,  said  Thomas  Lurtm  was  taken  so 
ill  that  he  could  not  perform  ye  same,  so 
that  his  mate,  John  Dao^gjer.  undertook  it. 
And  upon  the  nineteenth  day  of  Septem- 
ber, in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1631,  we 
sett  saile  from  the  place  aforesaid,  Mnd 
'through  the  o:ood  providence  of  God 
-towards  us,  we  arrived  at  Elsinburg:,  in 
Hhe  county  of  Salem,  upon  the  19th  day 
*of  November  following,  w^here  we  were 
'well  entertained  at  the  houses  of  the 
Thompsons,  who  came  from  Ireland 
'about  four  years  before,  who  by  their 
industry,  were  arrived  to  a  very  good 
degree  of  Living,  and  from  thence  we 
went  to  Salem,  where  were  several 
"houses  yt  were  vacant  of  persons  who 
had  left  the  towMi  to  settle  in  ye  country, 
which  served  to  accommodate  them  for 

•This  Newby  brought  with  him  a  preat  num. 
ber  of  Irisli  h^ilf-pcnny  pieces,  which  thft  Assem- 
bly in  May,  1682,  tmide  a  Icgnl  lender  uruler  (he 
amount  of  five  uliillingrs. — Leaminor  and  Spicer, 
p.  4  15.  Thry  were  called  Piilrick's  lialf-pence. 
Newby  lived  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  that  buc- 
ccssful  collector  of  coins,  Joseph  B.  Toopcr,  Esq., 
in  Newton,  where  many  of  the  Patrick  half>penoe 
have  been  ploughed  up. 


ye  winter,  and  having  thus  settled  down 
their  famelys,  and  the  winter  proving 
moderate,  we  at  Wickacoa,  among  us, 
purchased  a  I-onteof  the  Swansons,  and 
so  went  to  Hurlingron  to  the  cominis- 
s'oners,  of  whom  we  obtained  a  warrant 
of  ye  S'Tveyor  g-eneral,  which  then  was 
Daniel  Leeds;  and  after  some  consid- 
er.ible  search  to  and  fro  in  that  then 
was  called  the  third  of  Irish  tenth,  we 
at  last  pitched  upon  the  place  now 
called  Newton,  which  was  before  the 
se  tiement  of  Philadelphia;  and  then 
applied  to  sd  surveyor,  who  came  and 
laid  it  out  torus;  and  the  next  spring, 
beins:  the  beginning  of  the  year  163::^, 
\ve  all  removed  from  Salem  together 
wiih  Roljert  Zane,  that  had  been  set- 
tled there,  who  came  along  from  Ireland 
with  t  e  Thompsons  before  hinted,  and 
having  expectation  of  our  coming  only 
bought  a  lott  in  Salem  town,  upon  the 
which  he  seated  himself  untill  our  com- 
ing, whose  propriatery  right  and  ours 
being  of  the  same  nature,  could  not  then 
take  it  up  in  Fenwick's  Tenth,  and  so 
began  our  settlement;  and  although  we 
were  at  times  pretty  hard  bestead,  hav- 
ing all  our  provisions  as  far  as  Salem  to 
fetch  by  water,  yett,  through  the  mercy 
and  kindness  of  God,  we  were  preserved 
in  health  and  from  any  extream  difficul- 
ties. And  immediately  there  was  a 
meeting  sett  up  and  kept  at  the  house  of 
Mark  Newby,  and,  in  a  short  time,  it 
grew  and  increased,  unto  which  William 
Cooper  and  fameiy,  that  lived  at  the 
Poynte  resorted,  and  sometimes  the 
meeting  was  kept  at  his  house,  who  had 
been  settled  some  time  before. 

"Zeall  and  fervency  of  spirit  was  what, 
in  some  degree,  at  that  time  abounded 
among  Friends,  in  commemoration  of  our 
prosperous  success  and  eminent  preser- 
vation, boath  in  our  coming  over  the 
great  deep,  as  allso  that  whereas  we 
were  but  few  at  that  time,  and  the  Indi- 
ans many,  whereby  itt  putt  a  dread  upon 
our  spirits,  considering  they  were  a  sal- 
vage people;  but  ye  Lord,  who  hath  the 
hearts  of  all  in  his  hands,  turned  them 
so  as  to  be  serviceable  to  us,  and  very 
loving  and  kinde ;  which  cannot  l>e 
otherwise  accounted  for.     And  that  the 


INCIDENTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEWTON. 


rising^  generation  may  consider  that  the 
settlement  of  this  country  was  directed 
upon  an  impulse  by  the  spiritts  of  God's 
people,  not  so  much  for  their  ease  and 
tranquility,  but  rather  for  the  posterity 
yt  should  be  after,  and  that  the  wilder- 
ness being  planted  with  a  good  seed, 
might  grow  and  increase  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  good  husbandman.  But  in- 
stead thereof,  if  for  wheat  it  should  bring 
forth  tares,  the  end  of  the  good  bus- 
bandman  will  be  frustrate,  and  they 
themselves  will  suffer  loss.  This  narra- 
tion I  have  thought  good  and  requisite 
to  leave  behind,  as  having  had  know- 
ledge of  things  from  the  beginning." 

HADDONFIELD    VILLAGE. 

The  oldest  village  in  Newton  is  Had- 
DONFIELD,  which  was  founded  by  Eliza- 
beth Haddon  about  1702.  This  woman; 
daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Had- 
don, friends  of  London,  was  born  in  the 
year  1682.  "Her  parents  gave  her  a 
liberal  education.  They  having  an  es- 
tate in  lands  in  this  pi'ovmce,  proposed 
coming  over  to  settle;  and  in  order 
thereto  seat  persons  over  to  make  suita- 
ble preparations  for  their  reception ;  but 
they  being  prevented  from  coming,  this 
our  friend,  with  her  father's  consent, 
came  over,  and  fixed  her  habitation 
where  he  proposed  if  he  had  come,  she 
being  then  about  twenty  years  of  age,  in 
a  single  state  of  life,  and  exemplary 
therein.  In  the  year  1702  she  was  mar- 
ried to  our  worthy  friend  John  Estaugh, 
who  settled  with  her  where  she  then 
dwelt,  the  place  being  called  Haddon- 
field  in  allusion  to  her  maiden  name. 
There  they  lived  together  near  forty 
years,  except  in  that  space  her  several 
times  crossing  the  sea  to  Europe  to  visit 
her  aged  parents."*  This  lady  was  an 
eminent  member  of  the  society  of  Friends, 
and  was  • -clerk  to  the  woman's  meeting 
near  fifty  years,"  says  the  memorialist, 
•'greatly  to  satisfaction."  In  1713  she 
built  a  mansion  house  of  bricks  and 
boards  brought  from  England.  This  was 
destroyed  by  fire  some  two  years  ago. 

Being  situated  immediately  upon  the 
King's  Road  which  led  from  Burlington 

*  Collection  of  Memorials,  Phil.  1787,  p.  210. 

H 


to  Salem,  Haddonfield  soon  became  a 
place  of  considerable  note.  In  the  Re- 
volution it  was  temporarily  the  capital  of 
the  confederacy;  Congress  having  sat 
there,  according  to  the  Historical  Collec- 
tions,-■'  in  the  house  built  by  Matthias 
Aspden,  for  some  weeks,  during  which 
time  the  members  boarded  about  among 
the  inhabitants.  We  have  been  unable, 
after  diligent  search,  to  find  any  proof 
for  the  fact  in  the  published  minutes  of 
the  Congress  itself;  but  the  legend  has 
long  been  believed,  and  is  sanctioned  by 
the  fact  that  some  state  papers  in  the 
year  1778  bear  date  from  this  place. 

Several  interesting  incidents  connected 
with  Haddonfield  have  already  found 
their  way  into  print;  but  many  survive 
only  in  the  memories  of  a  few  aged  peo- 
ple. The  almost  miraculous  escape  of 
Miles  Sage  forms  the  favorite  theme  of 
every  Old  Gloucester  soldier.  Miles, 
was  in  the  dragoon  service,  and  a  braver 
trooper  never  lived.  On  one  oddSi^pti,' 
while  Haddonfield  was  occupied; by' El- 
lis' regiment,  to  which  our  hero  belpt!g§d,  • 
he,  in  company  with  one  Ben  Haiass,. ; 
was  ordered  to  reconnoitre  the  efteiny, . 
who  lay  near  Gloucester  Point.  ^Sage, , 
having  lost  his  companion,  reached  tjie 
Point  and  learned  that  the  British  had 
already  moved  for  Haddonfield,  irrttea'd- 
ing  a  surprise  upon  the  Americans.  He 
turned  his  fleet  and  faithful  mare.'lEtrtd 
dashed  off  through  the  darkness  «;)f'the 
night,  for  the  camp.  Driving  on  thro^igjh 
Newton  Creek,  and  over  ditches -and 
hedges  with  the  speed  of  the  wind*  he 
reached  the  village  and  stopped  before 
Col.  Ellis'  quarters  to  give  the  alarnji.  :  It 
was  needless,  for  the  house  was  already 
filled  with  British  officers.  He  mounted 
again  without  having  been  discovered, 
and  galloped  off  to  find  his  retreating 
countrymen.  Near  the  eastern  extrem- 
ity of  the  town  the  enemy  were  drawn 
up  in  three  ranks.  Through  two  ranks 
the  trooper  charged  successfully;  but  at 
the  third  his  mare  fell,  and  left  him  at  the 
mercy  of  his  foes.      They  surrounded 

*  Page  220.  The  Provincial  Congress,  or  Le- 
gislature of  New  Jersey,  we  are  told  by  Captain 
Cooper,  once  sat  in  Haddonfield  ;  but  he  doubta 
whether  the  Cuntiucntul  Congress  ever  met  there. 


£0 


INCIDENTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEWTON. 


him,  and  pierced  him  with  no  less  than 
thirteen  bayonet  wounds!  A  Scotch  of- 
ficer here  interposed,  and  had  him  car- 
ried to  the  village  inn,  where  he  was  put 
under  the  care  of  some  women.*  One  of 
these  beseeching  him  to  remember  hea- 
Ven»  he  exclaimed,  "Why  Martha,  I  mean 
to  give  the  enemy  thirteen  rounds  yet." 
He  lived  to  tell  his  grandchildren  of  his 
fearful  adventure,!  and,  we  have  no 
doubt,  to  remember  heaven  too. 

At  the  end  of  February,  1778,  Col. 
Stirling  and  the  Queen's  Hanger's,  Ma- 
jor Simcoe,  were  stationed  at  Haddon- 
field  for  the  purpose  of  annoying  Gen. 
Wayne,   who   was  collecting  cattle  in 
South   Jersey.     Col.    Stirling  reached 
Haddonfield  early  in  the  morning,  and 
(occupied  the  ground  in  front  of  the  vil- 
lage, with  the  left  upon  Cooper's  Creek. 
V.*"A  circumstance  happened  here,"  says 
'"the  officer  of  the   Queen's   Rangers4 
•  t '"'which)  though  net  vnusual  in  America, 
^und  in  the  rebel  mode  of  ivarfare,  it  is 
'"•'presumed  is   singular  elsewhere."    As 
Mafor  Simcoe  was  on  horseback  in  con- 
verWuion  with  Lieut.  Whitlock,  and  near 
the  pfi't  sentinels,  a  ride  was  fired,  and 
thfe'ball   grazed  between  them.     I'he 
grmmS  they  were  on  being  higher  than 
thfe:  opposite  bank,  the  man  who  had  fired 
was  .plainly  seen  running  off.     Lieut. 
Whnlock  with  the  sentinels  pursued  him, 
ao'd  the  guard  followed  in  case  of  neces- 
sity,.the  piquets  occupying  their  place. 
The  man  was  turned  by  Mr.  Whitlock 
and  .intercepted,  and  taken  by  the  sen- 
tinels'w      On  being  questioned  how   he 
p?es('med  to  fire  in  such  a  manner,  he 
answ.ered  that  he  had  frequently  fired  at 
the  Hessians,  who  a  few  weeks  ago  had 
been  there,  and  thought  he  might  as  well 
do  so  again.     "As  he  lived  within  half 
ia  mile  of  the  spot,"  continues  Simcoe, 
"had  he  not  been  taken  and  the  patroles 
pushed  the  next  day,  they  would  have 
found  him,  it  is  probable,  employed  in 
his  household  matters,  and  strenuously 
denying  that  he  either  possessed  or  had 

*One  of  Ihcse  women  was  the  mother  of  Gov* 
6tration. 

+  See  a  communication  in  the  Woodbury  Con- 
Wilution,  by  Mr.  Redfield,  dated  Jan.  ^Olh,  1844. 

\  Simcoe's  Military  Journal,  p.  39. 


fired  a  gun.  He  was  sent  prisoner  to 
Philadelphia."  This  specimen  of  rebel 
effrontery  induced  Major  Simcoe  to  dou- 
ble his  guard,  and  to  recommend  partic- 
ular alertness.  He  never  felt  safe  among 
the  Gloucester  boys,  after  the  coolness 
exhibited  by  our  nameless  Haddonfield 
ranger. 

After  staying  for  some  days  at  Had- 
donfield, and  making  valiant  assaults 
upon  some  tar  barrels  in  Timber  Creek, 
and  some  rum  casks  on  the  Egg  Harbor 
road,"'^  the  Forty-Second  and  the  Rangers 
got  wind  that  Mad  Anthony  was  on  his 
way  from  Mount  Holly  to  attack  them. 
Simcoe  pretends  that,  to  secure  the  in- 
habitants of  the  village,  he  wished  to  ad- 
vance to  a  favorable  position  about  two 
miles  from  Haddonfield,  and  lay  in  am- 
bush for  the  enemy.  Stirhng  however 
thought  it  prudent  to  retire  within  the 
lines  at  Cooper's  Ferry,  and  Simcoe, 
notwithstanding  his  professed  readiness 
to  fight,  led  the  retreat.  "The  night," 
says  he, t  "was  uncommonly  severe,  and 
a  cold  sleet  fell  the  whole  way  from 
Haddonfield  to  the  ferry,  where  tho 
troops  arrived  late,  and  the  ground  be- 
ing occupied  by  barns  and  forage,  they 
were  necessitated  to  pass  the  coldest 
night  they  ever  felt  without  fire." 

The  next  day  a  sharp  skirmish  ensued 
between  the  Spicer's  Ferry  Bridge  over 
Cooper's  Creek,  and  the  place  where 
the  Camden  Academy  now  stands.  Fifty 
men,  picked  out  from  the  Forty  Second 
and  the  Rangers,  having  been  sent  three 
or  four  miles  up  the  direct  road  to  Had- 
donfield for  some  remaining  forage, 
were  met  by  Wayne's  cavalry,  and  forced 
to  retreat  back  to  the  ferry.  The  Ame- 
ricans followed  up  to  the  very  cordon  of 
the  enemy.  The  British  were  drawn 
up  in  the  following  order :  the  Forty- 
Second  upon  the  right,  Col.  Markham 
in  the  centre,  and  the  Queen's  Rangers 
upon  the  left,  with  their  left  Hank  resting 
upon  Cooper's  Creek,  Capt.  Kerr  and 
Lieut.  Wickham  were  in  the  meanwhile 
embarking  with  their  men  to  Philadel- 
phia; and  as  the  Americans  seemed  dis- 
posed only  to  reconnoitre.  Col.  Mark- 


»Id.  p.  41. 


+  Page  43. 


INCIDENTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEWTON. 


51 


ham's  detachment  and  the  horses  also 
started  across  the  river.  Just  then  a 
barn  withhi  the  cordon  was  fired,  and 
the  Americans,  taking  this  as  Simcoe 
supposes  for  an  evidence  that  only  a  few 
stragglers  were  left  upon  the  eastern 
shore,  drove  in  the  piquets.  The  Forty- 
second  moved  forward  in  line,  and  the 
Rangers  in  column  by  companies,  the 
sailors  drawing  on  some  three  pound 
cannons.  A  few  Americans  appearing 
upon  the  Waterford  side  of  Cooper's 
Creek,  Capt.  Armstrong,  with  a  com- 
pany of  Grenadiers  was  ordered  forward 
to  line  a  dyke  on  this  side  to  watch  them. 
Upon  the  right,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Academy,and  the  Hicksite  meeting,  a 
heavy  fire  was  kept  up  by  the  Forty- 
Second  upon  the  main  body  of  the  Ame- 
ricans, who  were  in  the  woods  along  the 
Haddonfield  road.  The  Rangers  upon 
the  left  towards  the  creek  only  had  to 
oppose  a  few  scattered  cavalry  who 
were  reconnoitering.  As  Simcoe  ad- 
vanced rapidly  "to  gain  an  eminence  in 
front  which  he  conceived  to  be  a  strong 
advantageous  position,"'-'  the  cavalry  re- 
tired to  the  woods,  except  one  oflficer, 
who  reined  back  his  horse  and  facing 
the  Rangers  as  they  dashed  on,  slowly 
waved  his  sword  for  his  attendants  to 
retreat.  The  English  light  infantry  came 
within  fifty  yards  of  him,  when  one  of 
them  called  out,  "You  are  a  brave  fel- 
low, but  you  must  go  away."  The  un- 
daunted officer  paying  no  attention  to  the 
warning,  one  McGill,  afterwards  aquar- 
ter-master,  was  ordered  to  fire  at  him. 
He  did  so,  and  wounded  the  horse ;  but 
the  rider  was  unscathed,  and  soon  joined 
his  comrades  in  the  woods  a  little  way 
off.  And  who,  think  you,  that  bold  rider 
was  ?  It  was  Count  Pulaski,  the  ar- 
dent Pole,  who  had  left  his  native  land 
and  braved  the  billows  of  a  thousand 
leagues  to  pour  out  his  blood  in  the  cause 
of  universal  liberty.  It  was  the  opinion 
of  Simcoe  that  if  the  Huzzars  had  not 
been  sent  to  Philadelphia  before  the 
skirmish,  Pulaski  would  have  been  taken 
or  killed   on    this    occasion;    but    the 

•  Page  45.  This  eminence  was  doubtless  the 
ridge  at  the  harnlct  of  Dogwoodtown,  half  way 
between  Sixth  Street,  in  Camden,  and  the  creek. 


haughty  hireling  forgot  that  there  is  a 
just  God  who  watches  over  and  defends 
those  who  have  consecrated  themselves 
to  a  holy  cause.  In  this  affray,  although 
the  English  outnumbered  the  Americans 
ten  to  one,  all  the  loss  appears  to  have 
fallen  upon  the  right  side.  Several  of 
the  Rangers  were  wounded,  and  Ser- 
geant McPherson  of  the  grenadiers  was 
killed.  A  cannonading  was  kept  up 
from  the  eminence  which  Simcoe  had 
occupied,  upon  some  of  the  Americans 
who  were  removing  the  plank  from 
Cooper's  Creek  bridge.  This  was  done 
to  amuse  the  English  sailors,  but  it 
proved  to  be  a  very  harmless  pastime, 
for  none  of  the  Americans  were  wound» 
ed.  This  skirmish  occurred  on  the  first 
of  March,  1778. 

During  the  French  Revolution,  Louis 
Phillippe,  the  present  king  of  the  French, 
it  has  been  said  and  believed,  taught  a 
school  in  the  village  of  Haddonfield, 
One  of  the  Redmans  a  few  years  ago 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  king,  inquiring 
if  such  were  the  case,  and  his  Most 
Christian  Majesty  very  promptly  ro' 
turned  the  following  answer,  from  which 
it  appears  that  the  story  had  this  much 
of  truth  in  it,  and  this  much  only,  that 
His  Majesty  did  actually  dine  once  in 
the  place : 

St,  Cloud,  26th  August,  1837. 

Sir — I  have  received  your  kind  letter  of 
the  sixteenth  of  June  last,  and  I  readily 
comply  with  your  request  to  answer  in  my 
hand  your  obliging  inquiries. 

During  my  residence  in  the  United  States, 
I  never  went  by  any  other  name  than  Or- 
leans. I  have  known  Mr.  Peter  Guerrier, 
in  Philadelphia,  and  later  in  Havana;  but 
since  that  time,  in  1799,  I  have  never  heard 
of  him,  and  I  am  totally  ignorant  of  what 
may  have  been  his  fate.  I  cannot  believe 
that  he  ever  attempted  to  pass  himself  for 
me;  but  of  this  1  am  certain,  that  I  never 
assumed  his  name,  nor  ever  attempted  to 
pass  myself  off  for  him. 

I  believe  I  never  went  to  Haddonfield,  but 
I  am  positive  that  I  never  lodged  or  boarded 
there  at  your  father's  house  or  any  other.  It 
is  now  so  long — about  forty  years — since  I 
was  in  Philadelphia,  that  my  recollections 
are  become  confused ;  but  1  believe  I  dined 
there  once  in  company  with  a  member  of 
the  Society  uf  Friends,  whose  uaiue  was 


53 


INCIDENTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEWTOW. 


Redman,  at  the  liouse  of  another  member 
of  the  same  Society,  whose  name  was  I 
believe  John  Elliott,  and  to  whom  1  had 
been  introduced  by  Mr.  Gurrier. 

1  regret  to  be  unable  to  give  you  more 
complete  information  in  answer  lo  your  in- 
quiries, and  I  must  add  that  1  highly  value 
the  favorable  opinion  entertained  of  me  in 
the  United  States,  and  I  thank  you  for  hav- 
ing expressed  it  in  so  gratifying  a  manner, 
and  so  gratifying  to  my  feelings. 
I  remain  dear  sir, 

youi  sincere  friend. 

LOUIS  PHILIPPE. 

Jobo  Evans  Redman,  Esq-,  Philada. 

The  original  of  this  letter  is  written 
in  a  bold,  flowing  and  plain  hand. 
The  seal  is  a  simple  crown,  with  the 
king's  initials  in  old  English  text  letter. 
Of  the  Peter  Guerrier  mentioned  by 
Louis  Phillippe,  we  gather  the  follow- 
ing particulars  from  a  communication  in 
the  Saturday  Chronicle,  Philadelphia,'^ 
written  by  an  old  resident  of  Haddon- 
field:  He  was  a  royalist  who  left  his  na- 
tive land  in  the  early  part  of  the  French 
Revolution,  and  sought  an  asylum  at  St. 
Domingo.  On  the  servile  insurrection 
in  that  island  in  1795  he  fled  to  Philadel- 
phia, where,  poor  and  friendless,  he  was 
discovered  by  the  philanthropic  Joseph 
Sansom,  who  recommended  him  to  the 
people  of  Haddonfield  as  a  schoolmaster. 
Guerrier  taught  a  French  School  in  that 
village  for  several  months,  in  the  winter 
of  1795  and  spring  of  179(5;  and  after- 
wards he  was  clerk  to  Wetherill  and 
Sons,  druggists,  in  Philadelphia.  In 
1797  he  left  Philadelphia,  and  went,  it 
appears,  to  Havana.  His  grave  and 
gentlemanly  bearing,  added  to  a  certain 
mysteriousness  which  hung  over  his 
character,  easily  led  people  to  mistake 
him  for  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  whose  exile 
in  America  was  by  no  means  a  secret. 

We  have  seen  that  a  Friend's  Meet- 
ing was  first  set  up  in  Gloucester  in  16S2, 
at  the  house  of  Mark  Newl)ie.  It  ap- 
pears from  a  passage  in  Smith's  Penn- 
sylvaniaf  that  Newbie  and  the  other  pi- 
oneers who  settled  upon  tbr  third  lontli, 
••surveyed  their  land  ui  common  together 

•  Nov.  2.51  h,  18.37. 

t  Chap.  III.    Penn.  Reg.  Vol.  VI.  p.  183. 


in  one  tract,  and  in  the  following  spring 
laid  out  some  lots  in  the  nature  of  a 
small  town  upon  Newton  Creek,  and  built 
some  accommodations."     This  epheme- 
ral village  was  probably  called  Newtown, 
in  contradistinction  to  the  old  town  at  Ar- 
wames.     The  fears  respecting  the  Indi- 
ans being  found  ill  grounded,  the  town 
was  soon  abandoned.     But  in   1684  a 
public  meeting  house  was  erected  on  its 
site,  and  the  old  grave-yard  belonging  to 
that  primitive  church  still  serves  to  mark 
out  the  spot.     "Before  that,"  continues 
Smith,    "many   Friends   being   settled, 
some  by  the  river's  side,  some  on  the 
other  side  of  Cooper's  Creek,  and  some 
at  Woodberry  Creek,  these  joined  and 
with  the  permission  of  Burlington  Friends 
set  up  a  monthly  meeting  for  the  good 
government  of  their  religious  aflairs;  and 
sometime  after.  Friends  at  Salem  and 
they  increasing  in  number,  joined  and 
made  up  one  quarterly  meeting."      In 
1720  the  first  Haddonfield  meeting-house 
was  erected,    where   the   present  one 
stands ;  and  about  1S09  the  Friends  in 
West  Newton  established  near  the  Cam- 
den line  that  now  called  the  Newton 
Meeting  House;  a  building  which,  plain 
and  unpretending  as  it  is,  will  long  Ix) 
hallowed  in  the  affections  of  Friends  by 
tbe    recollection   of   Richard  Joud.an. 
This  man — lor  many  years  a  very  emi- 
nent preacher — was  born  at  Elizabeth, 
in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  in  Virginia,  on 
the  nineteenth  of  December,   1756,  of 
honest  Quaker  parents.     After  his  mar- 
riage with  Pharaby  Knox,  his    father, 
who   was  a  slaveholder,    offered  him 
some  slaves  to  help  him  work.     "My 
mind"  says  he,'"^  "for  several  years  be- 
fore had  been  so  thoroughly  impressed 
with  a  belief  that  it  was  not  right  to 
keep  them  as  slaves,  that  I  modestly  de- 
clined accepting  them."     His  father,  ir- 
ritated at  this,  cut  him  off"  with  a  dollar, 
and  this  same  was  all  he  ever  received 
from  a  considerable  patrimony.     He  be- 
gan to  preach   soon  after  his  marriage, 
and  was  actively  engaged   in  the  min- 
istry, and  in  works  of  philanthropy  up 
to  his  death.     Early  in  February,  1800, 

♦Journal,  Phil.  18129,  p.  ID. 


INCIDENTS  IN  THB  HISTORY  OF  NEWTON. 


fiS 


he  sailed  for  Europe,  "where,"  says  the 
testimony  of  his  flock,  "he  experienced 
many  remarkable  preservations  and  sig- 
nal interpositions  of  Divine  Providence." 
Calling  with  some  others  of  his  religious 
society  at  the  office  of  the  Burgher  of 
Amsterdam,  to  exhibit  their  passpoi-ts, 
they  were  at  first  refused  admittance, 
until  they  had  taken  off  their  hats.  This 
compliance  they  refused#to  yield,  and 
their  firmness  finally  triumphed.  "We 
went  on  our  way,'*  says  Jordan,"*^  "re- 
joicing that  we  had  been  enabled  to  bear 
this  testimony  on  behalf  of  Truth  and 
Friends." 

After  his  return  from  Europe  he  felt 
called  upon  to  reside  some  time  in  Con- 
necticut. He  moved  to  Hartford  in  1604. 
In  1809,  "being  satisfied,"  says  the  tes- 
timony, "that  it  would  be  right  for  him 
to  leave  those  parts  and  again  change 
his  residence,"  he  removed  to  Newton. 
Here  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his 
days ;  enforcing  by  his  own  example  the 
pure  life  to  which  he  exhorted  others. 
His  mind  was  strong  and  original,  and 
his  manners  marked  with  a  pleasant  dig- 
nity which,  while  it  raised  him  above  the 
contempt  of  all,  made  him  repulsive  to 
none.  At  times  in  his  sermons  he  poured 
forth  a  strong  native  eloquence,  which 
carried  the  feelings  and  convinced  the 
judgment  of  every  one  who  heard  him. 
inflexible  in  what  he  believed  to  be  the 
ancient  faith  of  the  church,  innovators 
met  at  his  hands  with  no  quarters.f  He 
died  on  the  thirteenth  of  October,  1S25, 
at  his  humble  residence  near  the  Meet- 
ing; J  leaving  to  the  charitable  institu- 
tions of  Orthodox  Quakerism  most  of  the 
fortune  which  his  industry  had  amassed, 
and  to  his  brethren  at  large  a  name  and 
a  reputation  in  which  all  may  rejoice. 


•Idem,  p.  103. 

t"  The  Friend,"  Vol.  1.  p.  212. 

tThe  Jordan  residence  is  still  standing,  and  is 
now  occupied  by  George  Roseman.  An  excellent 
drawing  of  it  was  made  some  years  ago,  by  Mr. 
Mason.  This  was  engraved  and  afterwards  sent 
lo  China,  where  it  was  copied  u  on  tea  setts,  and 
other  articles  of  China-ware.  The  picture  may 
now  be  met  with  at  public  tables,  in  barhcr  shops, 
and  in  crockery  btores  from  one  end  of  the  Union 
to  the  other. 


CAMDEN  CITY. 

The  town  of  Camden  having  been  in- 
corporated into  a  city  upon  the  thirteenth 
of  February,  1828,'*''  it  was  found  advis- 
able soon  after  to  sever  it  entirely  from 
Newton,  and  give  it  separate  township 
capacities,  and  Camden  was  therefore 
established  as  a  constablewick  on  the 
twenty-eighth  of  November,  1831. f  As 
we  have  lately  seen,  this  city  gave  name 
to  the  second  county  born  from  the 
womb  of  Old  Gloucester,  and  attained 
to  the  dignity  of  a  shire-town;  an  honor, 
by  the  by,  which  some  of  her  neighbors 
threaten  shall  be  of  brief  duration.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  a  town  which  has  risen  to 
distinction  so  fast  deserves  a  particular 
notice  in  the  history  of  old  mother  New- 
ton, 

The  land  embraced  in  Camden  town- 
ship was  located  at  three  several  times 
by  as  many  different  persons.  The  old- 
est appropriation  was  of  the  tract  reach- 
ing from  Little  Newton  Creek  about  to 
Line  Street,  in  Fetterville.  On  the 
fourth  and  fifth  of  July,  1678,  Billinge 
and  trustees  granted  this  tract,  being 
two  sevenths  of  a  propriety,  to  Samuel 
Norris.  On  the  twentieth  and  twenty- 
first  days  of  (September,  1686,  Norris 
conveyed  a  portion  of  his  location  to 
Robert  Turner,  who,  on  the  fourteenth 
of  December,  1696,  sold  this,  with  some 
other  land,  making  in  all  four  hundred 
and  fifty-five  acres,  to  John  Kaighn,  from 
whom  Kaighn's  Point  derives  its  name. 
The  second  location  in  respect  to  anti- 
quity, was  of  the  land  lying  between 
Cooper's  Street  and  Cooper's  Point. 
This  was  made  in  1679  by  Wifliam  Coop- 
er, a  worthy  and  eminent  member  of  the 
society  of  Friends,  who  emigrated  from 
Cole's  Hill  in  the  parish  of  Amiersham, 
Hereford  County,  England.  He  built  a 
mansion  on  a  high  bank  above  Cooper's 
Point,  caUed  by  him  Pyne  Point,  from  a 
dense  pine  forest  which  then  grew  there. 4: 
This  gentleman  took  up  other  considera- 
ble tracts  of  land  in  Gloucester  County, 

*  2  Harrison's  Laws,  p.  164. 

t  Idem,  p.  3G7. 

I  The  remains  of  this  house  were  visible  a  few 
years  ago,  but  they  have  now  washed  into  the  ri- 
ver. 


54 


INCIDENTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEWTON. 


most  of  which  yet  remain  in  the  posses- 
sion of  his  family.  He  was  a  distin- 
guished man  in  our  early  provincial  his- 
tory; having  held  a  seat  for  many  years 
in  the  Legislative  Council,  and  been  con- 
nected with  almost  every  important  mea- 
sure of  his  times.  William  Royden, 
having  by  a  third  location  made  on  the 
twentieth  of  September,  1681,  appro- 
priated the  land  between  Cooper's  street 
and  Kaighn's  line.  Cooper  of  Pyne 
Point  in  ihe  next  year  bought  out  his  in- 
terest, and  further  secured  himself  by 
getting  an  Indian  deed  guaranteeing  the 
possession  of  Pyne  Point  and  adjacencies 
against  all  other  Indians.  This  deed  is 
signed  by  Tallaca,  the  resident  chief,  and 
witnessed  by  several  of  his  tribe. 

For  many  years  the  Ferry  House  and 
Mansion  at  the  Point,  the  Middle  Ferry 
at  the  foot  of  Cooper  Street,  and  four  or 
five  ferrymen's  houses  constituted  the 
whole  of  Camden.  Towards  the  mid- 
dle of  the  last  century,  another  Ferry  hav- 
ing been  set  up  at  the  foot  of  Federal 
Street,  and  a  few  more  humble  buildings 
having  been  erected  along  the  shore, 
Camden,  as  contradistinguished  from 
Cooper's  Point,  began  to  be  dignified 
with  the  name  of  Pluckemin — possibly, 
though  we  would  not  like  to  say  proba- 
bly, from  a  singular  Indian  custom  ob- 
served hereabouts  at  the  birth  of  chil- 
dren-'- 

A  few  years  before  the  Revolution,  Ja- 
cob Coojjer,  a  descendant  of  him  of  Pyne 
Point,  to  whom  had  fallen  the  land  be- 
tween Cooper  andabout  Market  Streets,f 

*  Ante,  p.  16.  The  name  of  Pluckemin  seems 
never  to  have  obtained  very  generally.  It  was 
only  used  by  the  people  back  in  the  country,  and 
by  Ihcm  only  occasionally. 

t  Jacob  Cooper  on  the  22d  of  April,  177G,  gave 
to  Charles  Lyon,  Nathaniel  Falconer,  William 
Moulder,  and  Nicholas  llicks,  and  to  the  survivor 
in  fee,  the  lots  on  Plum  St.,  at  the  north-west  cor- 
ners of  Fifth  and  Sixth  Streets,  in  trust  for  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town  to  erect  places  of  pub- 
lic worship,  and  make  a  grave  yard.  The  lot  on 
Fifth  Street  has  been  sometimes  used  as  a  ceme- 
tery; but  usi|  any  church  erected  under  the  trust 
must  of  necessity  be  open  to  all  kinds  of  preach- 
ing, none  has  licen  erected.  The  lots  upon  which 
thc'Acadciiiy  stands  was  a  donation  from  the  Hart- 
ley fannly  some  years  adcr  Cooper's  gift.  The 
Academy  wuh  built  by  bubi>criptiun,un(i  is  owned 


projected  the  original  town  plot  of  Cam- 
den, which  embraced  Cooper's  and  Mar- 
ket Streets  running  east  and  west,  and 
King,  Queen,  Whitehall,  Cherry,  Cedar, 
and  Pine  running  norih  and  south. ■'^ 
Early  in  the  present  century  Joshua 
Cooper  laid  out  Plum  Street,  and  relaid 
the  Lower  Ferry  road,  to  which  he 
gave  the  name  of  Federal  Street.  The 
street  along  ^hich  the  Amboy  Railway 
is  now  located  was  laid  out  by  Edward 
Sharp,  an  active  but  visionary  inhabitant 
of  the  village;  who,  in  1819,  con- 
ceived the  plan  of  throwing  a  bridge  from 
Camden  to  Smith's  Island,  and  actually 
procured  a  charter  from  the  legislature  of 
New  Jersey  for  that  purpose.f  The  street 
which  he  laid  out  was  intended  as  the 
starting  place  for  his  bridge,  and  was 
hence  named  The  Bridge  Avenue.  The 
newer  part  of  the  city.  South  Camden, 
was  laid  out  by  Richard  Fetters  in 
1833,  upon  land  formerly  owned  by  the 
Kaighns. 

This  goodly  city — whose  rapid  ad- 
vancement seems  to  excite  the  jealousy 
of  some  of  the  country  villages — is  al- 
most exclusively  the  growth  of  the  nine-, 
teenth  century.  There  are  those  yet 
alive — not  old  men  either — who  remem- 
ber when  many  a  tempting  cherry-tree 
still  fined  her  roads — when  a  nail  fac- 
tory stood  in  the  middle  of  Whitehall 
Street  above  the  market  place — and 
when  truant  boys  used  to  dig  for  the 

by  the  peojilc  in  the  old  town  of  Camden — that  is 
those  living  between  Cooper  Street  and  an  un- 
marked line  about  half  way  between  Market  and 
Plum  Streets. 

*  King  Street  was  changed  by  the  Council  af- 
ter Camden  was  incorporated,  into  Front  Street — 
Queen  into  Second  Street,  Whitehall  into  Third, 
and  so  on,  in  the  order  above  named.  The  namo 
Camden  was  given  by  Jacob  Cooper  in  his  origi- 
nal map  of  the  town,  in  compliment,  it  has  been 
supposed  (Mulford's  Lecture)  to  an  eminent  Eng- 
lish nobleman  who  strongly  favored  the  cause  of 
the  Americans  in  the  parliamentary  struggles 
which  preceded  the  Revolution.  There  is,  how- 
ever, a  town  called  Campden  in  Gloucestershire, 
England,  which  might  have  suggested  the  name  in 
question  to  Cooper's  mind.  However  this  be,  tJie 
title  did  not  seem  to  attach  very  readily;  for  wo 
generally  find  the  i>lace  generally  called  The  Fer- 
ricK,  or  Cooper's  Ferry,  until  after  the  la.st  war. 
tTliis  Charter  was  paastd  Jan.  iJGlh,  IblJ). 


INCIDENTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  NBWTON. 


5i 


pirate's  money  where  now  are  busy  tho- 
rouj^hfares  and  long  rows  of  seemly 
houses.  Up  the  road  leading  from  Coop- 
er's Ferry,  the  great  and  good  Washing- 
ton used  to  ride,  when  President,  to 
muse  upon  the  eventful  scenes  through 
which  he  bad  passed,  and  to  breathe, 
perhaps,  in  solitude  his  grateful  ac- 
knowledgements to  God  for  his  country's 
salvation.*  Along  the  river  bank  where 
now  are  enacting  all  the  scenes  of  busy 
life,  less  than  half  a  century  ago  Matthew 
Carey  and  the  notorious  Cobbett  met  for 
mortal  combat,t  as  in  an  out  of  the  way 
place  where  no  intruders  would  be  likely 
to  disturb  their  proceedings.  We  our- 
self  have  seen  schooners  tack  upon  the 
very  spot  where  this  pamphlet  was 
printed,  and  have  many  a  time  skated 
over  land  now  measured  and  sold  by 
scrupulous  feet  and  inches. 

*The  last  time  President  Washington  took  his 
accustomed  morning  ride  up  this  road — early  in 
1797 — a  Hessian  who  had  deserted  at  the  battle  of 
Trentjn,  named  Henry  Dheets,  chanced  to  meet 
him  near  the  ferry.  "  We  were  unloading  some 
wood  near  the  ferry,"  says  our  informant,  a  worthy 
old  gentleman  yet  resident  in  Camden,  "when 
Washington,  entirely  unattended,  rode  slowly 
past.  I  knew  him,  and  bowed,  as  did  the  Hes- 
sian also.  Washington  returned  the  acknow- 
ledgement with  his  accustomed  politeness,  and 
was  passing  on,  when  Dheets  addressed  him  :  "  I 
tink  I  has  seen  your  face  before — vat  ish  your 
name?"  The  General  drew  up  his  beautiful  gray, 
and  bowing  to  the  man,  replied,  "  My  name  is 
George  Washington."  Half  frightened  out  of 
his  wits,  the  poor  Dutchman  exclaimed  "  Oh  mine 
Gott !  I  vish  I  vas  unter  te  ice — I  vish  I  vas  un- 
ter  te  ice !"  Washington  kindly  assured  him  that 
he  had  done  no  harm — rode  a  short  distance  up 
the  road  to  the  row  of  mulberry  trees  which  you 
doubtless  remember — and  sat  there  some  time  in 
his  saddle,  looking  over  the  remains  of  the  works 
which  the  British  army  had  thrown  up  during 
the  war.  He  then  turned  his  horse,  rode  slowly 
past  us  again,  and  crossed  the  river.  This  is  the 
last  time  he  ever  visited  New  Jersey,  as  he  re- 
tired to  Mount  Vernon  soon  afterwards.''  To 
Americans,  no  incident,  however  trifling,  in  the 
life  of  Washington  will,  we  trust,  prove  uninter- 
esting. 

tThe  duel  between  these  two  persons  arose 
from  a  newspaper  war  in  Philadelphia.  It  is  said 
to  have  occurred  abont  the  site  of  Fetterviile,  or 
South  Camden.  Cobbett's  first  fire  broke  Carey's 
leg,  and  left  him  with  tliat  limp  which  the  pub- 
lic cannot  fail  to  remember.  See  Carey's  Auto- 
bicgraphy  in  Atkinson's  Casket. 


Some  of  the  reminiscences  belonging 
properly  to  this  city  have  been  already 
noticed.  There  is  fortunately  no  such 
dearth  of  material  as  to  force  us  to  rake 
up  events  which  every  true  son  of  Old 
Gloucester  desires  to  forget.-"- 

We  have  heretofore  alluded  to  the  be- 
lief that  treasures  had  been  buried  by 
pirates  in  the  olden  time  in  the  vicinity 
of  Camden.  The  tradition  is  said  to  have 
had  its  origin  from  the  fact  that  a  mys- 
terious vessel,  with  a  savage  looking 
crew,  came  up  the  Delaware,  while 
Philadelphia  was  still  a  village,  and  an- 
chored ofFPyne  Point,  where  she  re- 
mained for  a  few  days,  and  again  put  to 
sea.  Kidd  and  Blackboard  had  long 
swept  the  ocean  with  a  broom  of  fire,  and 
at  the  time  in  question  the  whole  Amer- 
ican sea-board  was  rife  with  tales  of  their 
exploits,  The  stranger  brig  which  paid 
this  flying  visit  to  the  Delaware  was  by 
many  set  down  as  piratical ;  and  from 
that  time  to  the  present  money  digging 
at  Cooper's  Point  has  been  a  favorite 
employment  for  the  superstitious.  Wat- 
son, the  delectable  annalist  of  Philadel- 
phia, has  preserved  one  anecdote  upon 
this  subject,  which  is  worth  mentioning : 

About  1760,  a  wag  in  Pliiladelphia, 
'yclept  Col.  Thomas  Forest,  wishing  to 
play  oflf  a  prank  upon  a  Dutch  tailor, 
who  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  pirate 
stories  of  the  times,  wrote  what  pur- 
ported to  be  the  confession  of  one  John 
Hendricks,  executed  at  Tyburn  for  pi- 
racy, in  which  it  was  stated  that  he  had 
buried  a  chest  and  pot  of  money  at  Coop- 
er's Point.  Having  smoked  the  parch 
raent  so  as  to  make  it  look  ancient.  For- 
est showed  it  to  the  tailor,  who  immedi- 
ately procured  a  printer  and  professor  of 
the  black  art,  named  Ambruster,  to  con- 
jure the   ghost  of  the  pirate  to  give  up 

*  A  minute  account  of  the  Heberton  tragedy 
in  1843  was  appended  to  the  sketch  of  Camden 
in  Barber  and  Howe's  Hist.  Coll.  of  New  Jersey, 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  the  Reminiscent 
responsible  for  it.  We  feel  it  due  to  ourself  to 
state  that  we  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
the  insertion  of  that  part  of  the  sketch ;  which,  by 
the  by,  the  publishers  promptly  suppressed  in  their 
second  and  subsequent  editions,  at  our  request. 
Hist,  Coll.,  p.  205 ;  and  the  American  Eagle  for 
May  4th,  1844. 


56 


INCICENT8   IN  THE    HISTORY   OF  NEWTON. 


the  treasure.  On  a  night  appointed,  Fo- 
rest and  his  friends  who  were  in  tliejoke, 
met  at  a  tavern,  where  every  arrang^e- 
ment  for  the  conjuration  had  been  made. 
Being  seated  around  the  table,  Ambrus- 
ter  shuffled  and  read  out  cards,  on  which 
were  the  names  of  the  New  Testament 
Saints,  until  he  supposed  the  spell  was 
complete.  At  the  words,  "Jolm  Hen- 
dricks du  verjiuchler  cum  hcraus,'"^''  the 
pully  reeled,  a  closet  opened,  and  out 
came  John  Hendricks,  one  of  Forest's 
companions,  disguised  in  all  the  ghastli- 
ness  of  ghosthood !  Ambnister,  terrified 
at  the  success  of  his  spell,  left  the  premi- 
ses with  commendable  despatch,  accom- 
panied by  the  no  less  frightened  tailor. 
The  appearance  of  the  pirate,  however, 
the  conjurer  assured  his  friends,  author- 
ized him  to  take  up  the  money;  and  a 
night  was  therefore  lixed  upon  to  visit  the 
Point,  in  search  of  the  two  stones  be- 
tween which  the  parchment  directed 
them  to  look  for  the  buried  pot.  When 
the  night  came,  the  tailor,  the  conjurer, 
and  others  who  were  in  the  secret, 
crossed  the  river,  and,  following  the  in- 
junctions of  the  confession,  arrived  at  the 
scene  of  action,  and  commenced  digging. 
In  due  time  they  reached  the  pot ;  but, 
just  as  they  struck  it,  two  negroes,  ar- 
rayed like  imps,  appeared  and  scared 
them  off.  At  the  second  attempt  they 
were  assaulted  by  eats  tied  two  and 
two,  with  whizzing  fire-works  attached 
to  their  tails,  and  making  hideous  noises; 
all  which  passed  for  enchantment  with  the 
tailor  and  Ambruster.  But  the  pot  was 
at  last  taken  up  and  removed  in  triumph 
to  Philadelphia  Wharf.  Here,  while 
getting  it  out  of  the  boat.  Forest  con- 
trived to  let  it  fall  into  the  river,  and  with 
it  went  the  tailor,  who  manifested  no 
mind  to  let  go  so  precious  a  treasure. 
The  pot  was  lost — but  the  poor  Dutchman 
got  safely  out,  to  reproach  Forest  with 
the  mishap.  He  and  Auibruster  believed 
for  years  that  Forest  had  recovered  the 
pot  himself,  and  was  enriched  thereliy; 
and  they  actually  sued  out  a  writ  of  trea- 
sure trove  against  him,  which  they  only 
abandoned  on  the  whole  trick  being  dis- 

*  "Come  out,  John  Hendricks,  thou  accursed  I" 


covered  to  them.*  We  have  heard  in 
later  times  of  less  elaborate  but  equally 
ludicrous  pranks  upon  money-diggers  at 
the  Point;  but  our  space  forbids  us  to 
narrate  them. 

Upon  the  shore  of  the  cove  above  the 
Point  the  immortal  Franklin  once  passed 
a  Saturday  night  in  October  in  rather  an 
uncomfortable  manner.  He  had  started 
from  Burlington  in  an  open  Ijoat  to  work 
his  passage  to  Philadelphia;  but  dark- 
ness overtaking  them,  and  the  weather 
being  very  foggy,  they  became  bewil- 
dered. At  last  they  made  the  shore, 
and,  stealing  some  pickets,  built  a  fire, 
which  kept  them  warm  until  morning. 
When  the  day  made  they  found  they 
were  in  Cooper's  Creek.  This  was  the 
night  before  the  Doctor's  famous  landing 
at  Market  Street  Wharf,  when  he  de- 
scribes himself  as  covered  with  dirt,  with 
his  pockets  filled  with  shirts  and  stock- 
ings, and  with  only  one  Dutch  dollar  to 
bless  himself  withal.  In  this  plight,  eat- 
ing from  a  roll  which  he  carried  under 
his  arm,  he  first  saw  Miss  Read,  after- 
wards  his  wife — and  in  this  plight,  bat- 
ing the  roll,  ho  entered  the  old  Market 
Street  Friends'  Meeting  House — the  first 
house  he  entered,  and  tlie  iirst  house,  he 
tells  us,  in  which  he  slept,  in  Philadel- 
phia.! 

In  the  Revolution,  after  the  British 
had  taken  Philadelphia,  Cooper's  Point 
was  found  a  convenient  out-post,  and 
was  used  us  such  until  the  evacuation. 
The  first  encampment  made  there  was 
by  General  Abercrombie,  who  after- 
wards fell  at  the  battle  of  Alexandria, 
in  Figypt.  His  head  Quarters  were  in 
the  house  now  belonj^ing  to  Joseph  W. 
Cooper,  Esq.  The  quarters  of  the  For- 
ty-Third Regiment,  Col.  Shaw,  and 
several  Highland  and  Hessian  regi- 
ments were  at  the  Middle  Ferry  House, 
or  English's.  The  British  lines  reached 
from  the  Point  down  the  Delaware  nearly 
to  Market  Street — thence  up  to  the  site 
of  the  present  Academy,  and  thence 
about    north-east    across    to    Cooper's 

*  Watson'y'Annals  of  Philadelphia,  new  ed.  Vol. 
1,  p.  'J68. 
i  Franklin's  Autobiography,  p.  35. 


INrtDENTS  IX  TUB  LISTORY  OF  \KWTON. 


57 


<.)re«k.  The  remains  of  their  redoubts 
were  \isible  until  a  t'evr  years  a^o. 
Property  inside  of  the  lines  was  safe, 
but  the  people  outside  were  continually 
plundered  b}'  the  Hessians. 

After  the  occupation  of  Philadelphia 
by  the  British  land  forces,  they  placed 
batteries  along  the  river.  From  these 
Ihey  used  to  play  upon  the  American 
militiamen  seen  loitering' upon  the  Jersey 
shore.  On  one  occasion  a  ball  from  one 
of  their  batteries  struck  a  rain-cask  from 
which  a  lady,  an  ancestor  of  my  inform- 
ant,"'^ was  taking  water.  When  the 
British  fleet  arrived,  the  men  of  war  an- 
chored in  the  west  channel ;  and  the  con- 
voys and  tenders,  numbering  a  hundred 
or  more,  in  the  eastern,  between  Wind- 
mill Island  and  the  Jersey  shore.  The 
officers  of  the  former  often  exercised 
their  guns  with  full  cartridges,  and  a 
great  many  balls  have  been  found  a  mile 
or  two  back  from  the  river  in  Newton 
Township,  which  were  doubtless  thus 
thrown  away. 

While  the  enemy  lay  at  the  Point  they 
were  often  annoyed  by  the  Americans. 
InJMarch,  1778,  soon  after  the  retreat  of 
Simcoe  from  Haddoufield,  and  the  skir- 
mish  which  we  have  already  noticed, 
Pulaski,  with  a  considerable   body  of 
continental  troopers  came  close  underthe 
British  lines  to  reconnoitre.     The  enemy 
anticipating  his  approach,  placed  an  am- 
bush upon  both  sides  of  the  road  leading 
from  the  bridge  to  the  Middle  Ferry,  in  the' 
neighborhood  of  the  present  Friends' 
meeting  house,  under  the  command  of  Col. 
Shaw.    As  Pulaski  approached,  a  good 
way  in  advance  of  his  men,  a  staunch 
Whig,  William  West,  who  was  aware  of 
the  design,  mounted  a  log  and  waved  his 
hat  as  a  signal  for  retreat.     Pulaski  took 
the  hint,  hastily  wheeled  his  men,  and 
saved  them  from  slaughter.    About  the 
same   time   a   hot  fight  took  place  at 
Cooper's  Creek  bridge,  where  the  Eng- 
lish surprised  a  party  of  militiamen.     Se- 
veral of  the  latter  were  killed  and  the 


•  We  lire  mucli  indebted  to  William  D.  Cooper, 
Esq.,  of  Camden,  who  has  contributed  several  iii- 
terettingr  faeU  in  the  early  hiatory  of  the  township 
now  under  consideration. 

I 


rest  captured.  Most  of  the  GloucMter 
fighting  men  enlisted  early  in  the  war, 
and  were  marched  to  Fort  Washington, 
where  they  were  taken  and  confined  on 
board  of  the  Jersey  prison  ship,  throug^h 
the  horrors  of  which  but  few  ever  lived 
to  return  home.  Most  of  the  minute- 
men  therefore  who  annoyed  the  British 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Philadelphia  were^ 
very  young.  They  fought  bravely  and 
sold  their  lives  whenever  they  iTere 
overpowered,  as  dearly  as  possible. 

Among  the   American   rangers   who 
distinguished  themselves   in   foray*  ia 
the  west  end   of  Newton,  none  'were 
more   eminent  than  John   Stokes  and 
David  Kinsey,  or,  as  he  was  generally 
called,    Taph  Bennett.     Stokes   was  a 
man  of  unconquerable  energy,  and  some 
of  his  feats  equal  anything  told  of  Jas- 
per or  Mac  Donald.    He  was  contininLlly 
hanging  upon  the  lines  of  the  enea^. 
and  was  in  hourly  danger  of  his  life. 
His  courage  and  activity  however  coMtd 
relieve  him  from  any  dilemma.     He  lived 
through   the   war  to  tell  of  his  "hair 
breadth  escapes"  at  many  a  social  party. 
Taph  was  a  kindred  spirit.    Like  Stoke* 
he   had  pinked  many  an  Englishman, 
who  dreamed  not  of  a  rebel's  being 
within  ten  leagues;  and  it  is  said  he 
generally  cut  off  his  foeman's  thumb  to 
evidence  his  prowess  to  his  comrades ! 
They  were  familiar  to  the  whole  encamp 
ment  at  Camden,  and  the  bare  names  of 
Jack  and  Taph  would  give  the  poor  Hes- 
sians a  lively  idea  of  the  world  to  come. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  war,  after 
Congress  had  returned  to  Philadelphia, 
the  colors  captured  with  Burgoyne  at 
Saratoga  were  displayed  in  their  HalL 
The  British,  being  'anxious  to  recover 
their  lost  honors,  employed  a  refugee  to 
steal  them.     He  came  on  from  New  York, 
and  was  concealed  for  three  days  in  a 
stack  of  corn  stalks  just  above  the  Middle 
Ferry.    But  Congress,  hearing  of  the 
scheme,  removed  the  colors  to  a  place  of 
safety,  and  thus  defeated  the  plot. 

The  people  of  Camden  have  ever  be^ti 
sturdy  friends  of  their  country.  As  such 
they  deeply  resented  the  disgrace  which 
Aaron  Burr,  by  his  supposed  south- 
vrestern  plot  had  cast  upon  New  Jersey. 


TH»    TOWMBHIP    OF   GLOUCESTER. 


After  Burr'a  acquittal  in  1804,  when  he 
first  set  foot  upon  the  shore  of  his  native 
State,  he  was  met  by  a  crowd  whose  in- 
dignation led  them  to  inexcusable  ex- 
cesses. At  the  Ferry  at  which  he  crossed 
to  Camden,  he  deliberately  produced 
from  his  holster  a  brace  of  pistols,  and 
cocked  them  to  be  ready  for  the  menacing 
town's  people.  At  Cooper's  Creek 
bridge  he  passed  under  a  board  upon 
which  in  huge  letters  was  printed  the 
■word  Traitor!  The  cue  here  given 
was  followed  throughout  his  journey; 
but  it  is  with  no  feelings  of  pleasure  that 
we  record  such  insults  to  one  whom — 
whatever  were  his  deserts — the  law  of 
the  land  had  pronounced  innocent. 

Of  late  years  Camden  has  pursued  the 
"even  tenor  of  her  way,"  with  little,jper- 
haps,  in  her  history  as  a  city  to  interest, 
but  with  nothing,  we  believe,  over  which 
she  has  occasion  to  blush.  A  few  years 
more,  and  the  humble  Pluckemin  of  other 
days  will  rank  as  the  second  city  in  our 
state! 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

THB   TOWNSHIP  OF  GLOUCESTER. 

Proceed — nor  quit  the  Met,  ivhich,  limply  told 
Could  e'er  10  well  my  ao>wtring  bosom  piercei 

Proceed — in  forceful  loundi  and  color  ould,  li 

Tke  mtivc  Icgendi  of  thy  land  rehearse. 

COLLIMS,  Od€  en  the  SuptritUiim)  of  tht  Highland). 

The  name  of  Gloucester  is  borrowed 
from  a  cathedral-town  on  the  bank  of  the 
Severn,  in  the  west  of  England,  whence 
emigrated  some  of  the  earliest  settlers 
in  West  Jersey.  The  word  itself  is 
from  the  Celtic,  frlaw  caer,  which  signi- 
fies Handsome  City.*  It  first  attached, 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  to  the 
town  projected  by  Olive  ;  then  to  the 
county,  and  lastly,  to  the  township  of 
which  we  are  now  to  speak. 

The  Township  of  Gloi/cester — the 
third  of  the  six  erected  by  the  Grand 
Jury  in  16V5 — originally  extended  to  the 
Delaware.  The  town  of  Gloucester 
however  soon  began  to  affect  the  right 
to  ehoose  its  own  constable,  to  have  its 
.representatives  in  the  board  of  Justices 

•  Malto  Briin,  Vol.  VI.  p.  74S, 


and  Freeholders,  and  do  all  other  things 
which  it  belongs  to  a  township  to  do.  In 
fact  it  became,  by  prescription,  a  con- 
stablewick,  to  all  intents  and  purposes ; 
and  the  legislature  in  1796,-"-  by  a  gene- 
ral  act  incorporating  the  townships  of  the 
State,  acknowledged  it  as  such.  On  the 
fifteenth  of  November,  lS31,t  this  town- 
ship of  Gloucestertown  and  a  portion  of 
Gloucester  township  were  laid  together, 
and  the  whole  received  the  name  ol  Union. 

TUE   TOWN    OF    GLOUCESTER. 

Of  the  TOWN  OF  Gloucester — the 
centre  of  interest  in  this  township — we 
have  spoken  somewhat  before ;  but  much 
yet  remains  to  be  said  of  that  ancient 
place.  Here  stood  the  ever  renowned 
Nassau,  the  first  Christian  settlement  in 
West  Jersey;  here,  the  beaux  and  belles 
of  the  lusty  village  of  Philadelphia  used 
to  congregate  for  pleasure ;  here,  th« 
Fox  Hunters,  emulous  of  the  customs  of 
the  fatherland,  used  to  mix  the  huge 
wassail  after  a  successful  chase ;  and 
here  in  later  days  the  great  Lafayette 
met  the  foes  of  freedom,  and  rebuked 
their  insolence.  Such  a  spot  cannot  be 
written  of  too  much  ! 

The  precise  locality  of  Fort  Nassau 
is,  as  we  have  already  hinted,  a  matter 
of  much  debate  among  antiquarians. 
The  best  opinion  seems  to  be  that  it  was 
situated  immediately  upon  the  river  at 
the  southern  extremity  of  the  high  land 
"butting  upon  the  meadows  north  of  the 
mouth  of  Timber  Creek.  J     That  position 

*  Feb.  2lst :  Rev.  Laws,  p.  332.  We  can  find 
no  statute  creating  the  township  of  Gloucester,  bat 
it  is  said  that  tliere  was  an  act  for  that  jiturpoaa 
which  is  now  lost.  In  March,  1705,  the  city  of 
Gloucester  had  overseers  of  the  poor  and  of  the 
highways,  independent  of  Gloucester  township. 
At  March  Term,  1712,  we  find  that  William 
Harrison  was  appointed  by  the  court,  constable 
for  Gloucester  town,  in  place  of  John  Siddons, 
who  was  probably  the  first  constable  of  the  n^w 
township.  The  lost  law  is  said  by  Michael  Fish- 
er, Esq.  to  have  been  of  a  much  more  recent  date  ; 
KO  that  the  supposition  in  the  text,  that  the  town 
became  a  township  by  prescription,  seems  un- 
avoidable. 

t  8  Harrison's  Laws,  p.  364. 

t  "  Du  temps  du  Govcrneur  Jean  Prim?.,"  aafa 
liindstrom,  in  his  description  of  New  Swwlen, 
Lib.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  Phiiuda.,  .No.  173,  MSS.,  "  lee 


c 

o 


s 

s 

s 


Q 


o 


O 


60 


THE  T0WN»H1P  OF  OLOUCESTBR. 


would  have  struck  the  eye  of  an  engi- 
neer ;  inasmuch  as  a  fortress  thus  situ- 
ated could  have  commanded  hoth  the  ri- 
ver and  creek,  while  it  would  have  been 
greatly  secured  from  the  attacks  of  the 
Indians  by  the  low  marshy  land  which 
surrounded  it  upon  all  sides  but  the 
north.  Some  of  the  cabins  which  con- 
stituted the  town  of  Nassau,  are  sup- 
posed with  much  reason  to  have  stood 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Sassackon,  Re- 
mains of  buildings  have  been  discovered 
upon  the  east  bank  of  that  stream ;  and 
a  peculiar  little  blue  flower  which  the 
farmers  call  the  Dutch  flower,  still  grows 
thereabouts.-* 

We  have  no  very  exact  description  of 
this  famous  fortress,  and  cannot  there, 
fore  tell  much  about  its  dimensions, 
strength,  or  appearance.  The  first  fort, 
that  erected  by  May  in  1623,  was  proba- 
bly a  very  rude  pile  of  logs,  just  sufficient 
to  serve  as  a  breastwork.  This  having 
been  destroyed  by  the  Indians,  another 
fort  was  built  in  1642,  when  the  Dutcli 
returned  to  watch  their  rivals,  the 
Swedes.f  The  latter  fort  Barker  sup- 
poses was  built  with  some  style — its  ar- 
chitect being  Herr  Hendrick  Christi- 
aanse,  the  builder  of  Fort  Amsterdam.^ 

Although  Lindstrom  says  very  posi- 
tively, in  speaking  of  this  post,  that  Go- 
vernor Printz  chased  the  Hollanders  out 
of  it,^  we  believe  that  it  was  never  oc- 
cupied by  any  but  the  Dutch.    During 

Hollandois  ont  dans  la  Nouvelle  Belgique  con- 
■truita  une  fortresse  nomee  Fort  Nassau  ;  mais  le 
GoTerneur  Printz  lea  en  chasse.  Lea  sauvages 
dcmollissoient  enfine  ce  fort  la.  La  riviere  est  ici 
bien  profonde."  Tiie  last  sentence  would  hardly 
have  Iwen  added  if,  as  it  has  been  suggested,  the 
fort  was  not  immediately  upon  the  river,  but  some 
distance  up  Timber  Creek. 

•  By  a  singular  mistake  upon  the  part  perhaps 
of  Gabriel  Thomas'  engraver,  a  Dutch  Fort  is 
placed  upon  his  map  at  some  distance  above 
Gloucester,  at  the  mouth  of  what  seems  to  be  in. 
tended  for  Cooper's  Creek.  The  map  is  a  great 
cariosity,  but  it  is  very  far  from  being  accurate. 

t  We  are  fortunate  enough  to  own  the  copy  of 
Holmes'  Annals  which  belonged  to  the  late  M. 
Duponceau.  It  contains  some  MSS.  annotations 
by  that  profound  scholar,  whieh  we  have  found  of 
f  reat  service.  Upon  the  authority  of  these  note* 
wo  date  the  rebuilding  of  Fort  Nasiaa  in  1649. 

t  Barker's  Sketches,  p.  15. 

^  tupra,  note. 


the  palmiest  days  of  New  Sweden,  Nas- 
sau continued  to  be  an  imperium  in  im- 
perio,  its  conuiiissioners  never  showing  a 
disposition  to  render  fealty  to  the  lord* 
of  Tinicum. 

A  report  dated  at  J'ort  Nassau  on  the 
seventh  of  September  1648,  gives  us  a 
striking  instance  of  the  spirit  with  which 
the  men  of  that  redoubtable  place  re. 
sented  the  slights  and  insults  of  their 
powerful  neighbors,  the  Swedes.  On 
the  evening  of  the  seoond  day  of  April 
in  the  year  above  named,  says  Com- 
missary Huddie,  a  vessel  undertook 
to  pass  up  by  Fort  Nassau  without 
showing  her  colors.  She  was  fired 
over  twice  by  Huddle's  command,  but 
not  heaving  to,  eight  men  were  sent  in  a 
barge  in  pursuit  of  her.  The  wind  be- 
ing fresh  and  fair,  the  vessel  outsailed 
the  rowers  and  got  off.  In  two  or  three 
days  Huddie  learned  that  she  was 
the  Swedish  barque — the  state  vessel  of 
John  I.  of  Tinicum.  When  she  came 
down  the  river  again  she  showed  her 
colors  ;  but  Claert  Huygen,  her  skipper, 
on  being  questioned  by  Huddie  as  to  his 
former  neglect,  answered  very  con- 
temptuously "that  if  he  had  known  that 
this  would  have  come  into  considera- 
tion,  he  would  have  been  sorry  not  to 
have  given  more  cause  for  offence." 
Such  a  reply  even  Dutch  phlegm  eould 
nqt  put  up  with.  Huddie  immediately 
smit  a  letter  to  Printz,  complaining  of 
his  skipper's  conduct — much  diplomacy 
thereupon  ensued  between  the  courts  of 
Tinicum  and  Nassau — and  the  whole 
matter  was  at  length  compromised  by 
Stuyvesant's  cannon,  in  the  manner  we 
have  before  related^^' 

Were  we  to  dwell  on  the  massacre  of 
the  garrison  at  Nassau  by  the  Indians, f 
the  curious  treaty  which  they  soon  after 
concluded  with  De  Vries  on  board  his 
vessel  before  the  fort| — the  terrible  ar- 
mada which  Commissary  Jan  Janson 
Uppendam  fitted  out  therefrom  in  16 12 

•  New  York  Hist.  Coll.,  New  Series,  Vol.  I., 
p.  437. 

f  Acrelins  and  Vandeidonck  agree  that  tlio 
men  in  Nassau  Were  murdered  when  the  lower 
fort  was  dMtroyed.     Id  p.  109. 

I  Idem,  p  953. 


•u 


THE  TON\  NHFIJP  OF  GLOUCESTER, 


fil 


aj^aiiisl  some  English  intruders  upon  the 
. Schuylkill, ^'^  and  ilie  hundred  other  in- 
leresting  and  important  topics  in  the 
eventful  history  of  Fort  iSassau,  our 
pamphlet  would  become  a  book,  and  a 
big  book  at  that.  We  w  ill  pass  on  then 
to  a  later  period,  when  Arwames  was  no 
longer  famous  for  fulminating  proclama- 
tions and  bellowing  artillery,  and  when, 
instead  of  rubicund  commissaries  and 
warlike  wachtmeesters,  with  cocked 
hats,velvetdoublets,and  gold  laced  vests, 
there  came  a  race  of  drab-colored  sur- 
veyors and  town  lot  speculators,  who, 
upon  the  ruins  of  Nassau  laid  the  foun- 
dations of  a  city  intended  to  be  the 
queen  of  the  Delaware.! 

The  specious  alliance  sought  by  the 
Yorkshire  men  at  BurIington4  did  not 
long  retard  the  progress  of  the  town  of 
Gloucester.  Old  Gabriel  Thomas,  wri- 
ting in  1668,  says:  "There  is  Gloucester- 
town  which  is  a  very  fine  and  pleasant 
place,  being  well  stored  with  summer 
fruits,  as  cherries,  mulberries  and  straw- 
berries ;  w^hither  young  people  come 
from  Philadelphia  in  the  wherries  to  eat 
strawberries  and  cream;  within  sight  of 
which  city  it  is  sweetly  situated,  being 
aboiii  three  miles  distant  from  thence."^ 
Oldmixon,  writing  ten  years  afterwards, 
says  :  "Gloucester  is  a  good  town,  and 
gave  name  to  a  county.     It  contains  one 

•  This  armada  consisted  of  the  sloops  Real  and 
St.  Martin.     Acrelius,  idem  p.  413. 

t  The  town  of  Gloucester  was  often  in  the  olden 
time  called  Axwamus,  a  corruption  of  the  Indian 
Arwames,  which,  according  to  Lindstrom,  was 
the  name  of  one  of  the  branches  of  Timber  Creek. 
On  his  map  this  stream  is  correctly  represented 
with  four  arms ;  to  the  most  southern  of  which, 
the  Blackwoodtown  arm,  he  gives  the  name  of 
Tetamekanchz-Kyl ;  the  next,  or  Chew's  Landing 
Branch  is  called  the  Arwames ;  Beaver  Branch  is 
named  Tekoke,  and  I  ittle  Timber  Creek  we  have 
seen  was  the  Sassackon.  All  four  of  these  names 
were  applied  to  Timber  Creek  generally,  but  it 
seems  that  the  natives  called  the  main  stream  Te- 
tamekanchz.  The  names  of  Arwames  and  Te- 
koke have  sometimes  been  mistaken  for  the  In- 
dian designation  of  Gloucester  Point.  They 
called  that  place  Hermaomissing.  There  was 
however  an  Indian  town  called  Arwames,  or  Ar- 
weymouse,  be  Thomas  spells  it,  somewhere  upon 
Timber  Creek,  probably  upon  the  Arwaniee 
branch.    West  Jersey,  p.  9 . 

;  Ant»,  p.  34.  6  Weit  Jersey,  p.  19; 


hundred  houses,  and  the  country  about 
it  is  very  pleasant"*  And  other  author* 
in  the  last  century  also  give  this  town 
notable  mention  for  the  beauty  of  it.s 
buildings.! 

There  was  at  Gloucester  a  chalybeate 
spring,  which  in  the  olden  time  was  much 
resorted  to  by  the  citizens  of  Philadel- 
phia. Between  the  young  people  who 
were  attracted  by  the  '  forementioned 
strawberries  and  cream,  and  the  older 
fry  who  sought  health  at  the  Spa,  the 
ancient  hotels  at  the  point  used  to  be 
lively  enough. J     Occasionally,  too,  du- 

•  British  Empire  in  America,  Vol.  I.,  p.  140.  > 

tKalm,  vol.  1.  p.  331. 

I  Judging  from  the  annexed  poem  by  the  Ret. 
Nathaniel  Evans,  of  Haddonfield,  its  waters  must 
have  been  once  highly  thought  of.  The  fame  of 
Gloucester,  however,  has  faded  before  the  brighter 
orb  of  Saratoga.,  and  even  poetical  endorsenunts 
cannot  restore  its  lost  honors.  The  following 
stanzas  are  from  Evans'  Poems,  edited  by  Wni. 
Smith,  and  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1772, 
p.  126;  which  book,  we  may  remark,  Mr.  Whar- 
ton tells  us  was  published  by  the  author  himself 
in  1770 — about  (Aree  years  afUrhis  death.'  Ante, 
p.  45. 


MORNING  INVITATION 

TO  TWO  yOUNQ  LADIES  AT  THE 

GLOUCESTER    SPRING. 

Sequester'd  from  the  city's  noise, 
Its  tumults  and  fantastic  j<>y», 

Fair  nymphs  and  swains  retire. 
Where  Delaware's  far  rolling  tide, 
Majestic  winds  by  Glo'sler's  side. 

Whose  shades  new  joys  inspire. 

There  innocence  and  mirth  resort, 
And  round  its  banks  the  graces  sport. 

Young  love,  delight  and  joy  ; 
Bright  blushing  health  unlocks  his  springs, 
Each  grove  around  its  fragrance  flings, 

With  sweets  that  never  cloy. 

Soon  as  from  out  the  orient  main, 
The  sun  ascends  the  etherial  plain, 

Bepearling  ev'ry  lawn ; 
Wild  warbling  wood-notes  float  aroirnd. 
While  echo  doubles  ev'ry  sound, 

To  hail  the  gladsome  dawn. 

Now  Celia  with  thy  Cloe  rise. 
Ye  fair  unlock  those  radiant  eyes. 

Nor  more  the  pillow  press ; 
Now  rise  and  taefe  the  vernal  bliss, 
Romantic  dreams  and  sleep  dismiss. 

New  ]oys  your  sense  shtU  bless. 


6S 


THB    rOWNBHir  or    6L0UCK8TEK. 


rioff  th«  fabhionablo  «eason,  the  provin- 
cial governors  and  tiieir  suites  carno 
down  to  attend  the  sessions;  and  no 
doubt  the  levees  of  their  excellencies  in 
point  of  style  would  have  done  honor 
even  to  the  present  day. 

In  later  years,  the  ferry  house  at 
Gloucester  Point,  kept  by  William  Hii  jg, 
became  quite  celebrated  us  the  rende- 
vous  of  the  Gloucester  Fox-hunting  Club. 
This  association  was  formed  in  October, 
1766,  by  twenty  seven  gentlemen  of 
Philadelphia,  who  were  subsequently 
joined  by  several  Jerseymen.  Among 
the  latter  were  the  gallant  Capt.  James 
J5.  Cooper  of  Haddonlield,  who  is  still 


Whether  alonjf  the  velvet  green, 
Adorning  all  tlie  sylvan  scene, 

The  fuir  incline  to  strbj  ; 
Where  lofty  trees  o'ershade  the  wave, 
And  Zephyrs  leave  their  secret  cave, 

Along  the  streams  to  play. 

There  lovely  views  the  *river  crown. 
Woods,  inciidows,  ships,  yon  tspiry  town, 

Where  wit  and  beauty  reign; 
Where  Cloe  and  fair  Celia's  charms. 
Fill  many  a  youth  with  love's  alarms. 

Sweet  pleasure,  mix'd  with  paia. 

Or  whether  o'er  the  fields  we  trip, 
At  yan  salubrious  t^unt  to  s\p, 

Immur'd  in  darksome  shade  ; 
Around  whose  sides  |]  magnolias^  bloom. 
Whose  siKer  blossoms  deck  the  giooiii. 

And  scent  the  spicy  glade. 

These  are  Aurora's  rural  sweets 

Fresh  dew-drops,  floweis  and  green  retreats. 

Perfume  the  balmy  air  ; 
Rise  then  and  greet  the  new-born  day. 
Rise,  fair  ones,  join  the  linnet's  lay, 

And  Nature's  pleasures  share. 

So  vhall  gay  health  your  cheeks  adorn, 
With  blushes  sweeter  than  the  morn. 

And  fresh  as  early  day ; 
And  then,  that  Glo'ster  is  the  place. 
To  add  to  beauty's  brightest  grace. 

The  world  around  shall  say. 

*  Delaware.  t  Philadelphia. 

^  Th«  chalyheate  ipriDg  DStr  Olouceder. 

||Th«  laurel-leaved  tulip  tree,  Tliii  Ixaiili/'ul  tree  ia  ont  of 
Ihe  greateit  ornaments  of  the  Americin  wooda,  of  which  it  ia 
a  natiTe. 

The  Gloucenter  Spring  ia  upon  the  south  branch 
of  Newton  Creek,  upon  the  Harripon  farm. 


alive,  Capt.  Isarauel  Whitall,  Col.  Hes- 
ton.  Col.  Joshua  HoM'ell  of  Fancy  Jiill, 
Samuel  Harrison  Esq.,  and  Jesse  Smith 
Esq.,  former  High  Sheriflof  Gloucester 
county.  The  Club  used  to  meet  once  a 
week  or  oftener  for  hunting — their  most 
favorite  fields  for  action  being  along  the 
banks  of  Cooper's  Creek,  four  or  five 
miles  from  Camden,  or  at  the  Horseheads 
two  or  three  miles  from  W  oodbury  in 
Beptford,  at  Chew's  Landing,  Black- 
woodlown,  Heston's  Glass-works,  now 
Glassbpro',  and  Thomson's  Point  on  th« 
Delaware.  The  kennel  of  the  Club, 
which  was  kept  at  the  Point  by  an  old 
negro  named  Natty,  contained  in  1778 
twenty  two  excellent  dogs,  whose  names 
the  eloquent  and  enthusiastic  memorial- 
ist of  the  Club  has  with  due  solenmity 
preserved.* 

During  the  revolution,  many,  in  fact 
most,  of  the  members  of  the  Club  were 
in  their  country's  service.  The  associa- 
tion however  was  reorganized  after  the 
war,  and  continued  in  existence  down 
to  1818,  when  the  death  of  Captain  Ross, 
the  boldest  rider  and  best  hunter  of  the 
company,  caused  it  to  languish  and  die. 
So  fond  were  some  of  the  Pennsylva- 
nians  of  their  sport  that  they  have  been 
known,  when  ice  obstructed  the  cross- 
ing of  the  Delaware,  to  bring  their  horses 
over  Trenton  bridge,  rather  than  miss 
the  chase.  Nor  did  the  Jerseymen  by 
any  means  lack  ardor,  as  the  adventure 
of  Mr.  Caldwell  abuntdantly  testifies. f 
The  chase  generally  lasted  only  for  a 
few  hours;  but  once,  in  1798,  Reynard 
carried  the  pack  in  full  cry  to  Salem, 
It  was  a  point  of  honor  not  to  give  up, 
until  the  bush  was  taken;  after  which 
there  ensued  a  banquet  at  Hugg's, 
■whereat  he  who  was  first  in  at  the  death 
was  for  the  time  being  the  lion.  The 
Gloucester  farmers,  who  suffered  much 
in  those  days  from  the  great  number  of 
foxes  with  which  the  county  still  abound- 
ed, were  always  glad  to  hear  the  sound 

•  See  Memoirs  of  Gloucester  Fox  Huntnig 
Club,  by  a  Member.  Philad.  1830,  p.  15. 

t  This  gentleman,  a  Gloucester  county  farmer, 
won  the  plaudits  of  the  whole  Club  by  .plunging 
into  the  Delaware  after  a  fox  which  had  broken 
through  th«  ie«.     Memoirs,  Alc.  p.  SI. 


TIIK    tOWNSHIP    ON    GLOUCKSTER. 


63 


of  the  horns  and  hounds.  From  the  tenth 
of  October  to  the  tenth  of  April,  the  Club 
had  the  entire  freedom  of  their  fields 
and  woods,  and  often  on  catching  the 
music  of  the  approaching  pack,  the  sturdy 
husbandman  bridled  his  best  horse,  and 
joined  the  merry  dashing  train,  drinking 
as  deep  as  any  the  excitement  of  the 
royal  sport. 


JONAS    CATTELL. 


[From  the  Memoirs  of  the  Gloucester  Fox  Hunt- 
ing Club.] 

There  were  many  distinguished  men 
connected  with  the  Gloucester  Club; 
but  none  is  more  deserving  immortality 
than  Jonas  Cattell!  For  twenty  years 
this  worthy  fellow  was  grand  guide  and 
whipper-in  to  the  Hunters,  "  always  at 
his  post,"  says  the  memorialist,  "  whe- 
ther at  setting  out  with  the  company, 
leading  off,  at  fault,  or  at  the  death." 
While  all  the  rest  rode,  he  travelled  on 
foot  with  his  gun  and  tomakawk,  and 
was  always  on  hand  for  any  emergency, 
before  half  the  riders  came  in  sight. 
His  physical  strength  and  activity  were 
almost  incredible.  When  about  fifty 
years  of  age  he  ran  a  foot  race  from 
Mount  HollJ'  to  Woodbury  with  an  In- 
dian runner  of  great  celebrity,  and  came 
off  victor.  About  the  same  time  he  won 
a  wager  by  going  on  foot  from  Wood- 
bury to  Cape  Island  in  one  day,  deliver- 
ing a  letter,  and  returning  in  the  SBme 


manner,  with  an  answer,  on  the  day 
following.  He  accomplished  this  extra- 
ordinary feat  with  ease,  and  was  willing 
to  repeat  it  the  same  week,  on  the  same 
terms.* 

In  the  half  century  during  which  the 
Club  was  in  existence,  the  foxes  were 
pretty  well  routed  from  the  county. 
Once  in  a  great  while  we  still  hear  of 
one  being  taken  in  the  interior,  where 
nature  still  reigns  in  her  undisturbed 
wilderness.  But  the  day  is  near  at 
hand  when  the  fox,  like  the  bear,  the 
wolf  and  the  buffalo,  which  once  in- 
habited our  woods,  will  be  heard  of  no 
more.  The  brood  of  the  Gloucester  ken- 
nel— which  at  the  dissolution  of  the 
Club,  was  divided  among  the  the  sport- 
ing farmers  in  the  neighborhood — will 
last  much  longer  than  the  mischievous 
tribe  of  Reynard. 

On  the  evening  of  the  twenty- fifth  of 
November,  1777,  a  spirited  affair  took 
place  on  the  Kinjr's  Road  between  Big 
and  Little  Timber  Creeks.  LordCorn- 
wallis,  with  about  four  thousand  men 
and  abundant  military  stores,  had  been 
encamped  at  the  Point,  but  was  about 
moving  across  the  Delaware.  General 
Greene,  with  a  considerable  body  of 
Americans  lay  at  Haddonfield,  and  kept 
a  close  watch  upon  Cornwallis.  Lafay- 
ette, who  had  not  yet  recovered  from  a 
wound  received  some  time  before,  volun- 
teered to  reconnoitre  the  British,  and 
attack  them  if  it  seemed  advisable.  In 
observing  the  position  of  the  enemy, 
he  ventured  out  upon  the  sandy  pen- 
insula south  of  the  outlet  of  Timber 
creek — very  near  the  hostile  lines.  He 
was  discovered,  and  a  detachment  of 
dragoons  were  sent  off  to  intercept  him. 

*  In  1830,  when  Mr.  Clay  drew  the  likeness  of 
Cattell  from  which  the  abova  cut  is  roughly  co- 
pied, he  was  engaged  in  fisiiing  at  Clark's  fishery. 
We  saw  him  at  the  meeting  held  in  Woodbury^ 
in  March  last,  to  remonstrate  against  the  setting 
off  of  Camden  county.  He  is  still  alive  and  hearty,, 
and  is  very  fond  of  telling  stories  of  his  hunting 
days  and  anecdotes  of  the  leading  men  in  the 
Gloucester  Club.  He  does  not  know  how  old  he 
is,  but  thinks  he  is  not  far  from  ninety.  Tho 
author  of  the  Memoir  from  which  we  have  drawn 
most  of  the  facts  in  the  text,  ssys  he  was  enlisted 
by  the  Club  in  1796,  but  does  not  give  bis  8g«  at 
that  time.      ^ 


t>] 


THK     nrA'XSIIII'    OF    GLOL'CKSTrH. 


His-g-uide  seeing  this,  became  very  much 
frightened  but  soon  collected  himself, 
and  showed  the  gallant  Frenchman  a 
back  path  which  led  him  beyond  the 
reacli  of  the  horsemen  before  they  had 
advanced  to  the  bridge.  He  passe'd  un- 
injured withih  musket  shot  of  an  outpost, 
and  joined  his  detachment. 

"  After  having  spent  the  most  part  of 
the  day,"  says  Lafayette,  "in  making 
myself  well  acquainted  with  the  certain- 
ty of  the  enemy's  motions,  I  came  pret- 
ty late  into  the  Gloucester  road  between 
the  two  creeks.     I  had  ten  light  horse, 
almost  one   hundred  and  fifty  riflemen 
and  two  pickets  of  militia.     Colonel  Ar- 
maud,  Colonel  Laumoy  and  Cheveliers 
Duplessis  and  Gimat  were  the  French- 
men with  me.    A  scout  of  my  men  un- 
der  Duplessis   went  to  ascertain  how 
near  to  Gloucester  were  the  enemy's 
lirst  pickets,  and  they  found  at  the  dis- 
tance of  two  miles  and  a  half  from  that 
place,  a  strong  post  of  three  hundred 
and  fifty  Hessians,  with  field  pieces,  and 
they  engaged  immediately.     As  my  lit- 
tle reconnoitering  party  were  all  in  fine 
spirits,  I  supported  them.     We  pushed 
the  Hessians  more  than  half  a  mile  from 
the  place  where  their  main  body  had 
l>een,  and  we  made  them  run  very  fast. 
British   reinforcements   came   twice  to 
ih'Hm,  but  very  far  from  recovering  their 
ground,  they  always   retreated.      The 
ilarkaees  of  the  night  prevented  us  from 
pursuing  our  advantage.  After  standing 
on  the  ground  we  had  gained,  I  ordered 
them  to  return  very  slowly  to  Haddon- 
tield.     1  take  great  pleasure  in  letting 
yoCi  know  that  the  conduct  of  our  sol- 
diers was  above  all  praise.  I  never  saw 
men  so  merry,  so  spirited,  and  so  desir-- 
ous  to  go  on  to  the  enemy,  whatever 
force  they  might  have,  as  that  small  par- 
ty in  this  little  fight. "^i-  It  was  on  this  oc- 
casion that  Morgan's  riflemen  drew  from 
I^afayette  the  notable  compliment,  "  I 
found  them  even  above  tJieir  reputation." 
These  brave  fellows  were  commanded 
by  Lieut.  CoK  Butler.     The  Americans 
had  only  one  man  killed  and  six  wound- 
ed.    The  British    had  twenty   killed, 

•  Ijrttnr  to  Wnnhing^ton,  Spark't^Vritinff  of 
WaHhiiijjton,  »ol.  v.  p.  171.  * 


many   more   wounded,  and   lost  about 
twenty   prisoners.* 

While  Mad  Anthony — as  old  Wayne 
was  generally  called" — was  posted  at 
Haddonfield,  in  the  month  of  February, 
1778,  some  of  his  men  went  down  to 
Gloucester  to  reconnointre  the  British 
who  lay  there  in  considerable  numbers. 
They  were  discovered  and  pursued  by 
a  superior  force.  A  running  fight  en- 
sued which  lasted  nearly  from  the  Point 
to  the  American  cordon,  but  the  British 
suffered  much  the  greater  loss.  The 
most  prominent  man  in  this  action  on  the 
American  side  was  Col.  Ellis,  of  the 
Gloucester  county  militia.  Soon  after 
this  the  whole  encampment  at  Glouces- 
ter moved  upon  Wayne  by  night,  intend- 
ing to  surprise  him;  but  he  was  too 
wide  awake  for  them,  and  was  gone  be- 
fore they  got  there.  It  was  on  this  oc- 
casion that  Miles  Sage  was  entrapped 
and  bayonetted. 

About  this  time  the  houses  of  several 
staunch  W^higs  in  Gloucester  township 
were  burnt,  and  among  them  the  man- 
sions of  the  Huggs  and  Harrisons,  the 
first  on  Timber  Creek,  near  the  Bridge, 
and  the  other  nearer  the  Point.  That 
the  Hugg's  should  have  been  obnoxious 
to  the  British,  was  no  more  than  natural, 
for  that  family  gave  two  officers  and 
several  privates  to  the  revolutionary  ar- 
mies, and  its  very  women  were  uncon- 
querable patriots.  On  one  occasion  some 
Englishmen  coming  to  the  residence  of 
Col.  Joseph  Hugg,  began  to  throw  a 
hatchet  at  the  poultry  in  the  yard.  The 
matron  came  forth,  and  gave  the  intruders 
a  rebuke  worthy  of  a  Spartan  mother. 
"  Do  you,"  said  she,  "  call  yourselves 
officers,  and  come  thus  to  rob  undefend- 
ed premises  ?  I  have  sons  who  are  ia. 
Washington's  army.  They  are  gentle-'' 
men,  and  not  such  puppies  as  you."  It 
is  no  wonder,  we  repeat,  that  after  this. 
Col.  Abercombie  should  have  burnt  the 
house  and  with  it  a  large  quantity  of  hay 
in  the  rick.-f  , 


*  Idem  ;  and  Gordon's  New  Jeriey,  p.  255. 

t  This  incident  is  from  a  MS.  sent  us  torn* 
lime  ago  by  nn  pstppmcd  friend,  who  w«»  well 
vrrned  in  all  the  revolutionary  history  of  old 
C>ioucealer. 


THK    TOWXSIII?    OF      DPinTOHD. 


65 


Many  other  incidents  of  bkiriiiishes, 
escapes  and  adventures  are  related  as 
having  occurred  in  the  neijii^hborhood  of 
Gloucester  in  the  Revolution;  but  we 
lind  that  to  gather  anytliing  like  a  satis- 
factory account  of  them  is  now  im- 
possible. The  time  for  gleaning  tra- 
ditionary histoirettes  of  that  age  is, 
we  lear,  very  nearly  past.  The  oral 
legends  of  a  much  later  period  are  often 
flatly  absurd,  or  very  suspicious.  The 
de/icient  memories  of  the  narrators,  if 
they  were  themselves  eyewitnesses,  and 
the  natural  accession  of  which  marvel- 
lous stories  are  the  subject  at  every  re- 
petition, make  us  very  cautious  in  re- 
peating here  an}^  but  those  incidents 
which  were  recorded  at  the  proper  time 
and  by  respectable  authorities. 

After  the  removal  of  the  public  busi- 
ness from  Gloucester,  that  town  began 
speedily  to  decline.  Instead  of  the  hun- 
dred houses  which  it  contained  at  the 
beginning  of  the  last  century,  we  all  re- 
member it  when  it  hardly  had  a  dozen. 
The  old  court-house,  which  stood  on  the 
Market  Square,  was  burnt  down  ;'--■  the 
Market  Square  itself  was  turned  into 
garden  ground;  the  streets  were  ploughed 
up;  and  desolation  sat  everywhere  upon 
the  once  thriving  city.  Governors  no 
longer  made  it  their  residence — fashion 
uo  longer  drew  thither  its  votaries. 
Now  anclthen,  perhaps,  a  traveller  cross 
ing  at  the  ferry  stopped  for  an  hour  to 
indulge  in  recollections  of  the  ])ast — to 
quote  snatches  from  the  Deserted  Village, 
and  draw  a  moral  having  particular  re- 
ference to  speculations  in  water-lots. 
But  even  such  visiters  were  scarce  ! 

Like  the  fabled  phoenix,  Gloucester 
seems  now  about  to  arise  from  her  ashes 
more  beautiful, than  ever!  The  exten- 
sive factories  in  course  of  erection,  or 
in  contemplation  there,  will  make  her 
yet — just  what  the  ghost  of  Thomas 
Sharp  would  dance  to  see — one  of  the 
most  busy  and  populous  towns  in  West 
Jersey.     So  mote  it  be  ! 

The  villages  in  the  original  township 
of    Gloucester — Chew's   Landing    and 

*  Many  valuable  records  were  burnt  in  this 
building. 


B'.ackwoodtown— and  the  hamlets  of 
iiount  Ephraim,  Clementon,  Tansboro,' 
and  New  Iw-oedom  are  small  and  com- 
paratively of  recent  origin.  There  is 
but  little  connected  with  either  worthy  of 
Nuote. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

THK    TOWNSHIP    OF   DBPTFORD. 

I.'iram  horrid*  helln; 

Dicim  «r,ies,  actuiijiie  aiiimis  in  I'uiicn  fgtt. 
ViRt;.  J^n.  P'JI.4l. 

The  country  about  Woodbury  Creek, 
according  lo  Gabriel  Thomas'  map,  was 
originally  called  by  the  English  the 
Township  of  Bethlem ;  but  this  namo 
soon  passed  into  oblivion,  and  instead  of 
it  our  ancestors  adopted  that  of  Dept- 
FORD,  from  a  litth^  town  in  Kentshire, 
England,  where  Peter  the  Great  of  Rus- 
sia served  his  apprenticeship  to  the  art 
of  shipbuilding.^^ 

VILLAGK  OF  WOODBERRY. 

The  oldest  village  in  this  township  is 
Woodbury;  or,  as  it  should  be  spelled, 
Vv^ooDBERiJT,  wiiich  takes  its  name  from 
the  family  of  Woods  who  came  from 
Herry^  in  Lancashire,  England,  in  1684. 
Richard  Wood,  the  first  settler  upon 
Woodbury  Creek,  came  out  with  the  ear- 
liest emigrants  to  Philadelphia.  Leav- 
ing his  family  in  that  town,  he  got  a  ca- 
noe and  paddled  two  or  three  miles  up 
the  Piscozackasingz-Kil  until  he  came 
to  a  likely  place  for  an  habitation.  Hav- 
ing conciliated  the  friendship  and  as- 
sistance of  the  Indians,  he  erected  a 
rude  bouse,  and  in  less  than  one  week 
he  and  his  family  were  living  therein  as 
comfortably  as  circumstances  would  al- 
low. A  brother  arrived  shortly  after, 
and,  settiing  a  little  higher  up  the  stream, 
founded  the  capital  of  old  Gloucester 
County.f     If  Thomas'  map  be  worthy 

*  Malta  Brun,  Vol.  VI.  p.  731. 

t  Mulford's  Lecture.  VVe  find  in  tbe  Survey, 
or  General's  office  at  Burlington,  Book  B  of  Sur. 
veys,  that  432  acres  of  land  on  Woodbury  Cre<rk 
were  surveyed  to  Jonathan  Wood  on  the  I3tb  of 
December,  1688.  One  hundred  acres  on  the  same 
creek,  Imd  been  surveyed  tlis  year  before  to  Wil- 


66 


THR    TOWNSHIP    OF    DEl'TFOIl©. 


of  (Jepeadcnwe,  this  letflcmcntMa?  made 
upon  the  north  bunk  of  tho  creek,  pro- 
bably about  the  site  of  tlio  hamlet  of  Flip- 
penttowti,  or  tho  old  Ward  Burying 
Ground.* 

Before  tho  Woods  had  been  joined  in 
their  settlement  by  any  other  families,  all 
the  men  belonj^in*:;  to  the  little  colony 
were  obliged  upon  some  occasion  to  go 
to  Burlington.  During  their  absence, 
which  was  prolonged  by  a  storm,  the 
women  became  i^hoii  of  provisions,  and 
in  great  distress  paid  frequent  visits  to 
the  bank  of  the  crock  to  look  for  their 
husbands'  return.  \n  Indian  squaw  up- 
on the  opposite  shore  observing  their 
solicitude,  and  understanding  by  their 
signs  that  they  were  in  need  of  food, 
started  olT  through  the  forest  for  her 
cabin,  and  in  an  hour  or  two  returned 
with  some  venison  and  corn-bread. 
Putting  these  on  a  long  bark  float,  she 
pushed  them  across  to  where  the  white 
women  were.  As  the  husbands  of  the 
latter  did  not  return  for  a  considerable 
time  afterwards,  nothing  but  the  oppor- 
tune assistance  of  this  kind  hearted  sav- 
age saved  the  worthy  matrons  from 
starvation.  Verily,  Woman  deserves 
the  compliment  which  Barker  pays  her, 
when,  in  speaking  of  the  young  huntress 
who  saved  De  Vries  on  the  Timmerkill, 
he  exclaims,  "  Her  native  wilderness 
cannot  always  render  her  wild,  nor  a 
life  of  savage  association  deprive  her  of 
her  innate  softness  !"t 

After  the  public  buildings  at  Glouces- 
ter were  burnt  in  1787,  Woodbury  was 
made  the  shire-town  of  the  county,  by  a 
vote  of  the  people.  From  that  time  un- 
til it  was  overtaken  and  surpassed  by 
Camden,  it  continued  to  be  the  most 
considerable  town  in  Gloucester  County. 
The  present  court-house  and  jail  were 
then  erected,  and  were  regarded  as  a 
great  improvement  upon  the  old  affairs 
at  Gloucester.  Upon  the  steeple  of  the 
eourt-house,    the    freeholders    contem- 

liam  Higging.  Tlicre  is  no  record  of  the  earlier 
locations — Book  A  of  Survey*  hwinj  disappear- 
ed, we  believe,  in  some  tnysterious  manner  fro«D 
the  BorveyorV  affiee  many  yoara  ago. 

♦  Biarker'i  Sketdie?,  p  li^. 

^tkt  Carey'*  Msp  of  N^c*  J^rtevi  1T96. 


plated  to  plate  a  large  Indian  as  a  vane; 
but  some  one,  not  liking  such  vanities, 
is  said  to  have  stolen  the  Indian,  and 
kept  it  for  a  long  time  secreted.  At 
length  it  came  to  light,  and  was  first  set 
up  on  Governor  Stratton's  old  mill  at 
Swedesboro',  and  afterwards  mounted 
upon  a  pole  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Sharptown;  where  it  still  serves  in  its 
veerings  and  shiftings  as  an  emblem  of 
the  mutability  of  human  affairs.  The 
story  is  trifling,  but  be  it  remembered, 
the  very  object  of  this  book  is — 

Anjjustis  addere  rebus  honorem. 

In  1525  the  old  public  buildings  having 
become  very  much  dilapidated,  tho  Grand 
Jury  presented  them  as  insufficient, 
and  an  Act  of  Assembly  was  procured 
for  submitting  the  (piestion  to  the  people 
where  the  new  buildings,  if  any,  should 
be  put.  As  soon  as  Camden  was  found 
to  be  a  competitor  for  the  honor,  the 
worthy  denizens  of  Woodbury  disco- 
vered that  the  old  buildings  were  quite 
good  enough,  or  at  least  might  be  made 
so  with  very  little  expense.  The  Wood- 
bury interest  prevailing  in  the  Board  of 
Freeholders,  a  new  Clerk's  office  was 
built  with  all  despatch,  the  Court  House 
was  somehow  patched  up,  and  a  deal  of 
money  spent  thereupon,  with  the  design 
of  outgeneraling  Camden.  Such  tactics 
could  not  fail  of  success.  The  thrifty 
fishermen  upon  the  seaside,  not  relish- 
ing the  idea  of  throwing  away  this  mo- 
ney, voted  when  the  election  came  for 
Woodbury,  and  so  the  Court  House  was 
retained  there  by  a  majority  rising  eight 
hundred.  The  pamphlets  and  placards 
which  wore  the  ammunition  of  this 
Court  House  war,  savor  strongly  of  the 
jealousy  which  still  exists  between  the 
two  towns. 

In  the  winter  of  1777,  Lord  Cornwal- 
lis  had  bis  head-quarters  in  this  village, 
in  the  house  now  occupied  by  Amos 
Campbell,  Esq.,  on  the  east  side  of  the 
main  street.  During  his  stay,  some  of 
his  men  having  seized  a  valuable  cow 
belonging  to  an  ardent  Whig  in  the 
neighborhood,  his  lordship  was  waited 
on  by  the  o.vner,  who  requested  a  re- 
storation of  hii  property.     Cornwall^ 


THE  TOWNtHlP  OF  UKTTFORO. 


6T 


»eked,him  at  to  his  political  principles. 
The  sturdy  patriot  iriod  to  evade  the  ques- 
tion, but  at  ienjjil) — cow  or  no  co\r — the 
truth  would  out.  lliis  lordship,  admiring 
the  man's  independence  soon  returned 
him  his  animal.'^ 

Captain  James  Lawrence  was  in  his 
youth  a  schoolboy  at  the  Academy  in 
this  village;  having  begun  the  study  of 
navigation  with  Samuel  Webster.  Be- 
fore this  he  had  entered  as  a  student  at 
law  in  the  office  of  his  brother  John 
Lawrence,  who  was  an  eminent  prac- 
titioner at  the  Gloucester  bar.  The 
young  hero,  not  arguing  hujcIi  pleasure 
from  a  peep  into  Fortescue's  gloomy  vis- 
ta— the  lucubrationcs  viginti  annorum — 
left  his  law  books  in  about  two  years 
for  a  more  congenial  life.f  Here  also, 
Stephen  Decatur  went  to  school,  his 
home  being  in  the  West  family,  at  the 
Buck  Tavern.  A  gentleman  who  knew 
both  Decatur  and  Lawrence  very  well, 
has  given  us  an  anecdote  of  the  former 
which  is  worth  recording :  In  1 793  when 
the  yellow  fever  raged  in  Philadelphia, 
it  was  found  that  some  persons,  to  avoid 
doing  quarantine  had  escaped  from  in- 
fected ships  at  the  Lazaretto,  landed 
upon  the  Jersey  shore,  and  so  got  up  to 
the  city.  To  prevent  this  infraction  of 
the  laws,  a  company  of  young  men  living 
about  Woodbury  was  formed  to  guard  the 
Deptford  shore.  Decatur  and  our  in- 
formant both  joined  this  corps ;  and  on 
one  occasion  being  on  duty  the  same 
night,  the  latter  as  Captain  and  the 
former  as  private,  Decatur  was  stationed 
at  Red  Bank.  At  midnight  all  the  look- 
outs below  the  creek  were  relieved,  as 
was  understood  beforehand;  but  poor 
Decatur  was  entirely  forgotten  and  left 
in  service  until  morning.  He  remained 
manfully  at  his  post  until  the  return  of 
day,  but  visited  his  neglected  Captain 
when  next  he  saw  him  with  a  hearty 
round  of  sailor's  blessing.;}: 

•  Barber  and  Howe,  p.  208. 

t  Biography  of  Lawrence,  Phila.  1813,  p.  12; 
Analectic  Mag.  1813,  Vol.  II.  p.  129. 

t  The  last  time  our  informant  saw  Lawrence 
was  just  at  the  opening  of  the  late  war,  at  Eng. 
lis h'»  Ferry,  Camden.  He  remarked  with  much 
wirmth.in  allusion  to  the  sffHir  of  the  Leopard 


except  when  the  segaioaa  of  tho  couu- 
ty  courts  galvani:ie  Woodbury  into 
something  like  life,  it  is  by  no  means  & 
place  in  which  lovers  of  novelty  and  ex- 
citement would  be  induced  to  tarry.  Yet 
it  has  pervading  it,  as  a  compensatioa 
for  its  monotony,  a  quiet  rural  beauty  to 
which  even  a  lawyer  cannot  be  insenai- 
ble,  as  the  following  verses  will  show  ; 

WOODBURY— A  SONNET. 

A  little  viil  embowor'd  round  with  trees, 

Wiiere  Ilcnvun's  delicious  ether  seemt  oooi;* 

sweet 
Tl.an  in  the  heated  city  !  There  the  feet 
Of  guitimor  trip  more  lijihUy,  and  the  breeita 
Sings  softer  songs,  the  birds  more  am*roua  lay* 
Troll  mid  the  leaves  of  hcaven-kisRing  elms- 
Till  beauty  like  a  gush  of  music  whelms 
The  languid  son!  that  yearns  to  sing  its  praise. 
There  may  be  brighter  f»pols  beneath  the  sun, 
But  none  so  calm  in  beauty,  none  so  still 
With  heaven's  own  quiet;  and  I  stand  and  fill 
My  soul's  full  cup  till  it  doth  overflow 
With  loveliness  and  light,  and  I  bow  down 
To  thee,  as  to  a  shrine,  serenest  town  !• 

The  land  upon  the  river  shore  of 
Deptford  township,  seems  to  have  beqn 
taken  up  at  an  early  day.  In  1689  a 
tract  of  near  five  hundred  acres  at  Cork 
Cove,  above  Red  Bank,  was  surveyed 
to  John  Ladd.  The  Ward,  Chaunders, 
(now  Saunders,)  Higgins,  Tatem  and 
Whitall  families,  all  of  which  are  stiU 
extant,  located  in  this  vicinity,  or  in  other 
eligible  places  in  the  township  about  th«- 
same  time. 

RED    BANK. 

By  the  Constitution  of  Arwames,  we 
have  seen.  Red  Bank  was  made  an  al- 
ternate capital  of  the  State  of  Glouces- 
ter. Courts  were  held  there  two  or 
three  times  in  the  years  1686  and  1687, 

■nd  Chesapeake,  "  I  shall  never  fleep  sound  UR- 
til  that  stain  is  washed  from  the  Chesapeake's 
decks."  Soon  afterwards  his  own  blood  iaad« 
the  expiation  he  prayed  for  ! . 

*This  sonnet  was  written  by  Henry  B.  Hirst 
a  young  Philadelphia  lawyer,  when  reporting  for 
the  city  press  the  trial  of  Mercer,  in  April,  1848. 
The  unexceptionable  taste  of  the  Camden  Mail 
having  pronounced  it  worthy  of  original  inser- 
tion,  wo  feel  justified  in  copying  it  here.  At  all 
events,  since  local  poetry  is  somewhat  like  win©» 
whatever  the  sonnet  may  be  p/r  se.to  posterity  it 
will  b«  euriouti. 


6» 


•ftJU    TCVvNSKlP    OF    DKJ'IFORD. 


at  the  Tavern  probably  which  had  been 
set  up  near  the  nioufh  of  thr  Piscozac- 
kasin{^z-kil,  or,  a«  the  Woods  very  ex- 
cusably named  it,  Woodbury  Creek. 
Why  the  positive  rej^ulation  of  the  Con- 
stitution was  broken  we  know  not;  but 
the  town  of  Gloucester  soon  became  the 
exclusive  metropohs  of  the  county. 

But  Red  Bank  derives  little  of  iis  ce 
lebrity  from  the  fact  of  its  being  a  decay- 
ed capital !  Its  name  has  not  runo; 
throughout  Christendom  for  any  judicial 
antics  of  which  it  might  have  been  the 
viene  in  the  seventeenth  century,  but 
for  one  of  the  most  brilliant  battles — we 
say  it  without  fear  of  contradiction — m 
our  whole  Revolution. 

Fort  Mercer  which  had  been  erected 
here  to  support  the  left  of  the  upper 
chevaux-de-frize,  sunk  in  1778,  to  pre- 
vent the  ascension  of  the  British  fleet, 
was  originally  designed  for  a  garrison 
of  twelve  or  fifteen  hundred  men.  W  hen 
Greene  took  possession  of  the  works, 
having  but  three  hundred  men,  he  adopt- 
ed the  suggestion  of  M.  de  JVlanduit,  an 
experienced  French  engineer,  and  threw 
out  a  large  part  of  the  fortihcation  on 
the  north,  reducing  it  to  a  pentagonal 
redoubt  of  convenient  size.    A  rampart 
of  earth  raised  to  the  height  of  the  cor- 
don, a  fosse  and  an  abattis  in  front  of 
the  fosse  constituted  the  whole  strength 
of  the  post.  I'he  battery  numbered  lour- 
toen  pieces  of  artillery  of  small  calibre. '•■ 
Late  in  the  afternoon  of  tbe  twenty- 
first  of  October,  1777,  Count  Donop  with 
a  detachment  of  about  twenty-five  bun 
drod  Hessians  crossed  the  Delaware  at 
Cooper's  Point  to  dislodge  Greene  and 
the  little  handful!  of    republicans  who 
defended  this  redoubt.     Owing  to  the 
precaution  of  the  Americans  in  destroy- 
ing the  lower  bridges  on  the  interven- 
ing streamsf,  the  Count  passed  through 
Huddnnfield   and   down  the  Clement's 
Bridge  road  to  the  attack.     He  pressed 
several  persons  whom  be  found  along 

"Travels  of  Marquis  dc  Cliustel'ux,  London, 
ed.  Vol.  I.  p.  261,  el  Jeq.  The  Marquis  visited  Red 
Bank  wilh  Lafuyclte,  Mrtnduil  and  sevtral  other 
ili'tinjfuishcd  Frenriimen  in  1780.  His  account 
«f  ih*  warku,  tlie  action,  etc.  in  the  best  cxtunt. 
]  V\»rd'i<Li;Uor,  Uuz.Penii.IJeg.  VmI.  III.p.  181. 


the  route  iaiu  his  service  as  pilots, 
among  whom  was  a  negro  belonging  to 
the  Cooper  family,  called  Old  Mitch, 
who  was  at  work  by  the  Cooper's  Creek 
Bridge.  A  negro  named  Dick,  belong- 
ing to  the  gallant  Col.  Ellis,  and  an  in- 
famous wiiite  scoundrel  named  Mcll- 
vaine  volunteered  their  assistance  as 
guides.  At  the  bar  of  the  Haddonfield 
tavern,  these  two  loyal  fellows  were  ve- 
ry loud  in  their  abuse  of  the  American 
cause;  but  their  insolence  as  we  shall 
see  was  soon  repaid. 

On  the  morning  of  the  twenty-second, 
the  Hessians  ap})eared  at  the  edge  of  a 
forest  north  of  the  fort,  almost  within 
cannon  shot  thereof.  Halting  here  to 
rest  from  the  march,  Donop  sent  an  offi- 
cer wilh  a  drunmier  to  command  Greene 
to  surrender.  "  King  George,"  said  the 
officer,  "  directs  his  rebellious  subjects 
to  lay  down  their  arms,  and  promises 
no  (juarter  if  a  battle  is  risked."  At 
which  Greene  de))utized  a  man  to  mount 
the  parapet  and  return  the  laconic  re- 
ply :  "  We'll  see  King  George  damned 
first — we  want  no  quarter!"  I'he  inter- 
view here  terminated,  and  the  officer  re- 
turned to  the  Hessian  camp."* 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  aftenioon  Do- 
nop opened  a  heavy  cannonade  from 
a  battery  which  he  had  erected  to  the 
north-eastward ;  and  at  the  same  time 
the  British  ships  from  below  the  che- 
vaux-de-frize  began  to  thunder  upon  the 
little  fort.  Most  of  the  balls  from  the 
latter  fell  too  low,  and  entered  the  bluflF 
beneath  the  works.  After  cannonad- 
ing for  a  short  time,  the  Hessians  ad- 
vanced to  the  first  entrenchment.  Find- 
ing this  abandoned,  they  shouted  Vic- 
toria ! — waved  their  hats,  and  rushed  in- 
to the  deserted  area  before  the  redoubt; 
the  little  drummer  before  mentioned, 
heading  the  onslauglit  with  a  lively  march. 
When  the  first  of  the  assailants  had 
come  tip  to  the  very  abattis  and  were  en- 
deavoring to  cnt  away  the  branches,  the 
Americans  opened  a  terrible  fire  of 
musketry  in  front  and  flank.  Death  rode 
in  every  volley.    So  near  were  the  Hes- 

*  MSS.  iNolfs  of  a  Sfpliin  jenarian,  p^Tiri  mr. 


THJS   TOWNSHIP  ©F   DKPTFORB, 


69 


fiians  to  the  caponiere  or  looped  trench 
which  flanked  the  enemy  when  they  set 
upon  the  main  fort,  that  the  wads  were 
blown  entirely  through  their  bodies. 
The  officers  leadinj^  the  attack,  fought 
bravely.  Again  and  again  they  rallied 
their  men  and  brought  them  to  the  charge. 
They  were  mowed  down  like  grass,  and 
fell  in  heaps  among  the  boughs  of  the 
abattisand  into  the  fosse.  In  the  thick- 
est of  the  fight  Donop  was  easily  dis- 
tinguished by  the  marks  of  his  order  and 
his  handsome  figure ;  but  even  his  ex- 
ample availed  nothing.  His  men  re- 
pulsed from  the  redoubt  in  front,  made 
an  attack  upon  the  escarpment  on  the 
west,  but  the  fire  from  the  American 
gallies  drove  them  back  here  also  with 
great  loss;  and  at  last,  they  flew  in  much 
disorder  to  the  wood,  leaving  among 
many  other  slain  the  saucy  drummer  and 
his  officer. 

Another  column  made  a  simultaneous 
attack  upon  the  south,  and  in  the  tech- 
nical language  of  a  soldier,  "  passed 
the  abattis,  traversed  the  fosse  and 
mounted  the  berm;""-"  but  they  were  re- 
pulsed at  the  fraises,  and  all  retreated 
save  twenty,  who  were  standing  on  the 
berm  against  the  shelvings  of  the  para- 
pet, under  and  out  of  the  way  of  the 
guns,  whence  they  were  afraid  to  move. 
These  were  captured  by  M.  de  Man- 
duit,  who  had  sallied  from  the  fort  to 
repair  some  palisades.  This  brave 
Frenchman  making  another  sortie  in  a 
few  minutes  afterwards  to  repair  the 
southern  abattis,  beard  a  voice  from 
among  the"  hea})S  of  the  dead  and  dying, 
exclaim  in  English,  "Whoever  you  are, 
draw  me  hence."  This  was  Count  Do- 
nop. M.  de  Manduit  caused  him  to  be 
carried  into  the  fort.  His  hip  was  bro- 
ken, but  the  wound  was  not  at  first  con- 
sidered as  mortal.  The  victorious  Amer- 
icans, remembering  the  insolent  mes- 
sage which  their  captive  had  sent  them 
a  few  hours  before,  could  not  withhold 
marks  of  exultation. 

"  Well — is  it  determined,"  they  asked 
aloud,  "  to  give  no  quarter  ?" 

•  Chasttllux,  Vol.  I.  p.  2«3. 


"  I  am  in  your  hands,"  replied  Do- 
nop ;  "you  may  revenge  yourselves." 

M.  de  Manduit  enjoining  the  men  in 
broken  English  to  be  generous  towards 
their  bleeding  and  humhled  prisoner,  the 
latter  said  to  him,  "  You  appear  to  be  a 
foreigner,  sir;  who  are  you  ?" 

"  A  French  officer,"  answered  Man- 
duit. 

"Jesuis  content,"  exclaimed  the  Count 
in  French,  "je  meurs  entre  les  mains  de 
I'honneur  meme."'^' 

Donop  was  taken  first  to  the  Whitall 
house,  just  below  the  fort,  but  was  after- 
terwards  removed  to  the  residence  of 
the  Lowes,  south  of  Woodbury  Creek. 
He  died  three  days  after  the  battle,  say- 
ing to  M.  de  Manduit  in  his  last  mo- 
ments, "  It  is  finishing  a  noble  career 
early ;  but  1  die  the  victim  of  my  ambi- 
tion and  of  the  avarice  of  my  sove- 
reign."! To  Col.  Clymer  he  made  the 
remarkable  remark :  "See  here  Colonel, 
see  in  me  the  vanity  of  all  human  pride! 
I  have  shone  in  all  the  courts  of  Eu- 
rope, and  now  1  am  dying  here  on  the 
banks  of  the  Delaware  m  the  house  of 
an  obscure  Quaker."^ 

The  Hessians  retreated  hastily  to- 
wards Cooper's  Ferry.  The  main  body 
went  by  way  of  Clement's  Bridge,  some 
by  way  of  Blackwoodtown,  and  some  it 
is  said  by  Chew's  Landing,  near  where 
they  were  met  by  a  company  of  farmer's 
boys  and  held  at  bay  for  some  time. 
This  detachment  had  with  them  a  brass 
cannon  which  they  are  supposed  to  have 
thrown  into  the  creek  somewhere  near 
the  Landing.  Dick  and  Mcllvaine,  the 
guides,  having  been  taken  prisoners  by 
the  Americans,  were  immediately  hung^ 

*  "  T  am  satisfied — I  die  in  the  very  hands  of 
Honor '." 

t  Ibidem. 

t  VVcems,  in  Life  of  Washington,  Chap.  IX. 
The  legs  of  prose  being  altogether  too  tardy  for 
this  eccentric  writer  he  frequently  invokes  the 
wings  of  poetry  to  help  him  over  an  extraordina- 
ry occurrence.  In  describing  the  battle  of  Red 
Bank,  he  breaks  into  versification  as  follows: 

"  Heaps  on  heaps,  the  slaughtered  Hessians  lie; 
Brave  Greene  beholds  them  with  a  tearful  eye ;: 
Far  now  from  liome  and  from  their  native  shore 
They  sleep  in  dea,th  and  hear  of  war  no  more." 


7«' 


THJ!  TOWNMllP  O*"  DSPTPORn. 


within  the  fort  for  divers  outrages  which 
they  had  committed.  Old  Mitch,  the 
other  pilot,  lived  until  recently  to  tell  to 
groupes  of  admiring  Camden  boys  how 
terribly  he  was  scared  in  this  memora 
ble  fight.  Resolved  not  to  bear  arms 
against  his  country,  and  Ix^ing  afraid  to 
run  away,  he  got  behind  a  hay-rick 
when  the  battle  began,  and  lay  there  Hat 
on  his  belly  until  it  was  over.  "  But 
Lord,  massa!"  he  used  to  exclaim  in 
narrating  the  circumstance,  "I guess  I 
shuk,  as  de  dam  cannon  ball  came  plow- 
in'  along  de  ground  and  flingin'  de  san' 
in  my  face ;  and  arter  de  Auguster 
blow'd  up  I  tought  for  half  an  hour  I 
was  dead  weder  or  no  !" 

The  respected  friend  to  whose  MSS. 
notes  we  have  before  acknowledged  our 
indebtedness,  tells  us  that  of  the  men 
under  Col.  Greene  in  this  action  many 
were  blacks  and  mulattos.  He  was  in 
the  fort  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty- 
third  of  October,  while  the  garrison 
were  burying  the  slain,  and  cannot  be 
mistaken  as  to  the  point.  His  account 
of  the  loss  agrees  with  that  contained  in 
Ward's  letter  to  Washington, '■■  to  wit: 
upon  the  American  side,  I'rom  Greene's 
regiment,  two  sergeants,  one  lifer  and 
four  privates  killed,  one  sergeant  and 
two  privates  wounded ,  and  one  captain 
who  was  reconnoitering,  taken  prisoner; 
from  Angel's  regiment,  one  captain, 
three  sergeants,  three  rank  and  file  kill- 
ed, and  one  ensign,  one  sergeant  and 
fifteen  privates  wounded;  and  from  Capt. 
Duplessis'  company, two  privates  wound- 
ed. The  Hessians  lost  lieutenant  Col. 
Mingerode,  three  captains,  four  lieuten- 
ants, and  near  seventy  privates  killed, 
and  Baron  Donop,  his  Brigade  Major, 
a  captain,  lieutenant  and  upwards  of 
seventy  non-commissioned  officers  and 
privates  wounded  and  prisoners.  Other 
accounts  make  the  loss  of  the  Hessians 
much  greater ;  but  as  the  action  only 
lasted  forty  minutes,  it  is  probable  that 
this  is  not  far  from  the  truth.  Several 
of  the   Americans  were    killed  bv  the 


•  Hnz.  Penn.  Ree.  V<il.  TIT,  uhi  enpra;  nnd 
fi»>e  Vol.  I.  p.  347  of  tlip  Ramr  vvoik  nnrf  I.pc'b 
.^lemoiri  of  the  War,  Vol.  I,  p.  2,S  et  neq. 


bursting  of  ono  uf  their  cannon,  the  fraj^- 
ments  of  which  are  yet  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. 

The  Hessian  slain  were  buried  in 
front  of  the  fosse,  south  of  the  fort.  The 
wounded  were  carried  to  Philadelphia 
by  Manduit,  and  exchanged.  Count  Do- 
nop was  interred  near  the  spot  where 
he  fell,"-"  and  a  stone  placed  over  him 
with  the  inscription  "Here  lies  buried 
Count  Donop."  The  epitaph  has  ceas- 
ed to  be  true — all  that  was  left  of  the 
poor  Hessian  having  been  dug  up  and 
scattered  about  as  relics. f  We  doubt 
not  that  the  Philadelphians  who  resort 
to  this  place  in  great  numbers  in  the 
summer,  began  this  outrage ;  but  candor 
compels  us  to  own  that  some  Jerseymen 
have  been  guilty  of  exhibiting  canes,  the 
heads  of  which  are  set  with  teeth  taken 
from  the  Count's  jaw  ! 

The  anecdote  of  dame  Ann  Whitall, 
which  the  compiler  of  the  Collections^ 
seems  inclined  to  doubt,  is  so  well  au- 
thenticated that  we  cannot  but  believe 
it.  The  attack  upon  the  fort  commenced, 
while  this  woman,  the  mistress  of  the 
first  house  on  the  river  bank  below  Do- 
nop's  grave,  was  busied  in  spinning. 
Presently,  a  shot  from  the  Augusta  or 
Merlin,  whizzing  through  the  hall,  ad- 
monished her  of  her  danger.  She  there- 
upon took  her  wheel  into  the  cellar  and 
actually  continued  her  spinning  through- 
out the  afternoon.  The  house  was  used 
as  a  hospital  after  the  action,  and  its 
floors  are  said  still  to  show  traces  of  the 
pools  of  blood  which  flowed  from  the 
wounded  soldiers. ||  This  anecdote  is 
certainly  much  more  credible  than  ono 
which  Com.   Barney  mentions  in  con- 

*  Inscrip.  on  Red  Bank  Monument. 

+  Tlie  last  time  we  were  at  Red  Bank,  Donop'» 
head-Ftone  was  between  two  cart-riils  and  almost 
overgrown  with  ijrass.  Tiie  inscription  on  iho 
stone  is  now  entirely  worn  away. 

lPaee212. 

II  It  seems  tijat  Manduit  could  not  comprehend 
the  peace  doctrines  of  the  Quakers.  Becauao 
Mr.  Whitall  would  not  doff  his  straight  coat, 
shoulder  a  musket  and  fro  into  the  fori,  the 
Frenchman  jumped  at  the  conclusion  that  ho 
"  waB  u  little  of  a  Tory,"  and  ordered  his  barn  to 
torn  down  and  hit  orchard  destroyed.  S«e  Chsf* 
tellux,  ubi  sup. 


THE    TOWNBIIIP    OF    DEPTFORD. 


71 


noction  with  tbi«  action.  One  of  the 
enemy's  gallios  had  a  brass  eighteen 
pounder,  which  told  at  every  fire.  The 
Americans  on  board  the  gun  boats  **  soon 
became  so  well  acquainted  with  the 
short  sharp  sound  of  her  explosion," 
says  the  Commodore,  "that  whenever 
it  was  heard,  some  one  would  cry 
out.  Galley-shot!  and  this  served  as  a 
kind  of  watch-word,  at  which  all  hands 
would  lie  down."-'--  Dodging  a  con- 
non-ball — especially  after  the  report — 
is  by  no  means  an  ordinary  feat ! 

As  soon  as  the  British  had  forced  the 
chevaux-de-frize,  Fort  Mercer  was  aban- 
doned and  began  to  fall  into  decay. 
On  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  in  18'29 
a  ireat  monument  was  erected  upon  the 
spot  by  a  number  of  the  New  Jersey  and 
Pennsylvania  volunteers,  which  the  Phi- 
ladelphians  have  characteristically  mu- 
tilated, by  striking  out  the  name  of  New 
Jersey  from  the  inscription.  The  le- 
gend upon  the  monument  modestly  gives 
Greene  one  hundred  men  more  than  he 
seems  to  have  had,  and  makes  the  num- 
ber of  Hessiaras  five  hundred  too  low. 

The  following  notice  of  a  visit  to  Red 
Bank  by  one  whom  the  Reminiscent  is 
proud  in  being  able  to  call  his  friend,  is 
too  eloquent  to  be  omitted  :  "  The  line 
of  the  embankment  at  Fort  Mercer  is 
yet  plainly  seen  ;  and  the  place  is  now, 
as  in  the  hour  of  our  country's  peril,  cov- 
ered with  a  gloomy  pine  forest  through 
whose  branches  the  wind  sighs  dismal- 
ly as  if  chanting  a  requiem  for  the  spir- 
its of  the  departed  brave.  Towards  the 
close  of  a  fine  afternoon  I  visited  the 
battle-ground.  Here  and  there  a  sail 
dotted  the  Delaware,  which  lay  calmly 
before  me.  A  few  solitary  fishermen 
were  pursuing  their  accustomed  avoca- 
tions upon  the  shore  below  the  bank, 
and  it  seemed  as  if  this  secluded  spot 
had  ever  been  the  abode  of  peace.  I 
lingered  until  the  shades  of  evening  be- 
gan to  darken  the  distant  landscape  and 
enshroud  the  forest  in  gloom.  The  fish- 
ermen had  gathered  their  nets  and  re- 

*  Barney's  Memoirs,  by  hi«  daughter,  Boston, 
IP32.  p.  61. 


tired  to  their  humble  homes;  and  I  was 
left  alone,  with  no  companion  but  my 
thoughts,  and  nothing  to  disturb  save 
the  gentle  rippling  of  the  waves  upon 
the  smooth  pebbly  beach.  With  reflec- 
tions suggested  by  the  occasion,  I  was 
slowly  departing  when  the  distant  roll 
of  a  drum  from  Fort  Mifflin,  summoning 
the  soldiers  to  evening  parade,  remind- 
ed me  that  wai*'s  dreadful  trade  was  not 
yet  over — that  the  time  had  not  yet 
come  '  when  the  lion  andthelamb  should 
lie  down  together,'  and  all  nations 
dwell  in  peace. "'•- 

On  the  seventeenth  day  of  February, 
1S36,  the  new  township  of  Washing- 
ton was  set  off  from  the  east  end  of 
Deptford;  but  the  interior  of  our  coun- 
ty, having  been  settled  at  a  comparitive- 
ly  modern  date,  has  as  yet  no  history.  At 
the  time  of  the  Revolution,  the  country 
for  a  considerable  distance  on  both  sides 
of  the  ridge  which  divides  the  Atlantic 
from  the  Delaware  streams  had  very 
few  inhabitant^,  and  these  were  mostly 
temporary  residents  who  sought  amidst 
the  barrens  a  refuge  from  the  perils  of 
the  war.  The  legendary  lore  of  these 
sparsely  settled  regions  consists  princi- 
pally in  tales  of  superstition  which  are 
not  worth  collecting,  much  less  recording. 

The  village  of  Squankum,  the  largest 
in  Washington  tawnship,  has  been  built 
sinee  1800,  at  which  time  we  are  told, 
"there  were  but  four  or  five  houses 
within  sound  of  the  conch-shell. "f  A 
year  or  two  ago  the  place  was  thought 
to  have  become  worthy  of  a  more  re- 
spectable name;  so  the  inhabitants  in 
town-meeting  solemnly  substituted  Wil- 
liamstown  for  the  Indian,  /Squankum. 
The  hamlet  at  the  Buck  Tavern  under- 
went a  few  years  ago  a  similar  improve- 
ment ;  the  people  thereof  abolishing  tho 
venerable  name  of  the  Buck,  and  sub- 
stituting that  of  Westville.  When  the 
Admonessonites  will  slough  the  present 
title  of  their  demi-ville,  or  what  better 
name  they  will  select,  we  know  not. 

•  Henry    Howe's    Historical  and    tJescriplive 
Letters  in  the  New  Haven  Herald.  No.  II. 
t  Hist.  Coll.  of  New  Jeraej,  p.  223. 


n 


GREENWICH    TOWNSHIP. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    TOWNSHIP   OF   GREENWICH. 

Say  why  does  man,  while  (o  his  opening  iight 
Each  shrub  preseiiis  a  source  of  chasle  dellghl, 
And  oalure  bids  for  him  her  treasures  flon, 
And  gives  to  him  alone  his  bliss  to  know — 
Why  does  he  pant  for  Vice's  deadly  charms, 
And  clasp  (ke  siren  Pleasure  to  hisarai:.' 

•KlBKB  Whxtb's  Clifton  Grove. 

The  TOWNSHIP  OF  GREENWICH  is  by 
some  months  the  most  ancient  township 
in  Gloucester  county  :  for  we  lind  upon 
the  minutes  of  the  County  Court,  under 
date  of  the  first  of  March,  1694,  the  fol- 
lowing note :  "  The  inhabitants  between 
Great  Mantoes  Creek  and  Barclay  Ri- 
ver, request  yt  ye  same  division  be  made 
and  laid  into  a  township,  henceforth  to 
be  called  hy  ye  name  of  ye  Township  of 
Greenwich  ;  and  yt  ye  same  be  so  re- 
corded. To  which  ye  Bench  assents 
and  order  ye  same  to  be  done.""- 

The  country  about  the  Racoon  and 
the  Repaupo,  having  been  settled  by  the 
Swedes — hundreds  of  whom  still  resided 
there  when  the  English  arrived — the 
township  of  Greenwich  was  for  some 
years  by  far  the  most  populous  of  the 
six  into  which  the  county  was  in  1695 
divided.  In  the  seventeenth  century 
most  of  the  magnates  of  this  part  of  old 
Gloucester  bore  such'  tides  as  Erick 
Cock,  Hermanns  Helme,  John  Ramho, 
and  Mens  Lock.  The  Swedish  lan- 
guage, religion  and  customs  were  rigid- 
ly conserved  for  a  long  time  ;  and  even 
to  this  day  many  traces  of  the  Swedish 
origin  of  the  people  of  Greenwich  are 
observable. 

THH    PARISH    OF    RACOON,    NOW    SWEDES- 
BORO'. 

At  what  time  the  Swedes  founded  the 
village  of  Racoon  we  are  unable  to  tell 
with  precision.  A  settlement  is  marked 
there  on  I.indstrom's  map,  as  it  is  fovind 
in  the  original  Swedish  copy  of  Campa- 
nius,  and  this  map  was  made  in  1654. 
Unless  preceded,  therefore,  by  the  town 
of  Nassau,  Racoon  is  the  most  ancient 
village  in  our  county, 

•  Woodbury  Records,  Book  A  Court  Minules. 


It  is  fortunate  for  u9-:-and  for  all  who 
like  us  feel  an  interest  in  the  annals  of 
their  homesteads— ^that  Kalm  made  the 
village  of  Racoon  his  residence  for  a 
considerable  time  during  his  visit  to  this 
continent  near  a  century  ago.  Although 
the  main  business  of  that  distinguished 
man  was  an  exploration  of  the  botanical 
productions  of  New  Sweden,  he  has  left 
us  many  facts  concerning  the  original 
settlers  here,  wiiich  cannot,  we  are  sure, 
prove  uninteresting. 

The  first  visit  of  Kalm  to  Racoon  was 
begun  on  the  twentieth  of  November 
1748.  He  crossed  at  Gloucester,  where 
he  mentions  that  passengers  from  Penn- 
■sylvania  were  obliged  to  patronize  the 
ferry  kept  by  Pennsylvanians.aiid  those 
from  Jersey  that  kept  by  Jerseymen. 
His  journey  through  our  count)'  gave  him 
but  little  to  admire.  At  and  about  Glou- 
cester he  observed  a  great  abundance  of 
fir-trees  :  but  after  he  left  this  place,  he 
found  nothing  whatever  to  marvel  at — 
except  very  sandy  roads.  He  tells  us  he 
saw  "single  farm  houses  scattered  in  the 
country,  and  in  one  place  only"  he  adds 
"we  saw  a  small  village.  The  country  was 
yet  more  covered  with  forests  than  culti- 
vated, and  we  were  for  the  greatest 
part  always  in  a  wood.""*-'  The  small  vil- 
lage he  mentions  was  Woodbury. 

The  county  then  as  now  abounded 
with' pine  trees,  which  Kalm  describes 
as  being  good  for  nothing  but  the  pro- 
duction of  tar ;  which  article,  together 
with  pitch  and  rosin  seems  to  have  been 
among  old  Gloucester's  earliest  staples. I 
He  afterwards  tells  us  however  that 
cattle  are  very  partial  in  simimer  to  the 
shade  of  the  pine,  and  suggests  that  the 
resinous  exhalations  from  that  tree  are 
wholesome  and  beneficial  to  them.  Heal- 
so  saw  many  of  the  spoon-trees,  (or  Kal- 
mia  latifolia,  as  Linnteus  named  it  in  hon- 
or of  his  friend,  our  traveller)  of  which 
the  Indians  residing  hereabouts  used  to 

*  Vol.  I.  p.  333. 

f  "The  trade  in  Gloucester  Count},"  Bays  <«a- 
hriel  Thomas,  West  Jersey,  p.  33, "  consists  chief- 
ly, in  pilch  tar  and  rosin;  the  latter  of  which  i« 
made  by  Robert  Styles,  an  excellent  artist  in  that 
port  of  work,  for  he  delivers  it  us  clear  as  any 
RUtn  Arabiek." 


(1 RK 1-;  N  \V  IC  H    '1< )  W  N  >!  11 1  i' 


71 


make  their  spoons  and  trowels,  Wo 
call  this  tree  the  Lowjaiid  Laurel ;  and 
the  marvellous  properties  which  Kalni 
has  attributed  to  it,  it  no  doubt  possesses. 
Of  the  Sassafras  which  grew  every- 
where in  great  abundance,  the  abori- 
gines, he  tells  us,  used  to  make  bowls; 
the  Swedes  used  its  root  in  brewing, 
applied  its  juice  as  a  cure  for  dropsy, 
used  it  in  decoction  as  a  rinse  for  ves- 
sels in  which  they  kept  brandy, and  ci- 
der,and  ma^de  their  bed  posts  of  it, to  keep 
away  the  bugs !  The  bark  of  the  Chest- 
nut-oak  was  used  by  the  Indians,  as  a 
Swede  naiiiec<>  Ramho  told  Kalm,  for 
dying  leather  red ;  and  the  Swedes  pro- 
bably used  it  for  the  same  purpose.  The 
\ru\i  of  the  Persimmon  tree  gave  to  the 
first  inhabitants  of  Greenwich  a  very 
curious  and  palatable  liquor,  which  is 
now,  we  believe,  never  made.  They 
also  distilled  brand}'  from  it  by  a  very 
simple  process.  Pompions,  or  Crock- 
nacks,  as  the  Swedes  called  them, 
Squashes  and  Calabashes  are  also  men- 
tioned by  our  traveller,;  as  having  been 
procured  from  the  Indians,  and  culti- 
vated by  the  Swedes  for  household  pur- 
poses. The  pompions  and  squashes 
they  ate — the  latter  being  served  up  on 
the  edge  of  the  dish,  around  the  meat. 
Of  the  calabashes  they  made  in  those 
primitive  days,  not  only  ladles  and  bowls, 
but  plates  for  the  table.  In  Holly-leaves, 
dried  and  bruised  in  a  mortar,  they  found 
a  cure  for  the  pleui'isy;  which  terrible 
disease  in  1728  swept  away  nearly  all 
the  Swedes  in  the  numerous  settlement 
at  Penn's  Neck,  where  it  broke  out  again 
with  increased  violence  just  before  our 
author's  visit.  The  ague,  too,  in  the 
olden  time  was  a  much  more  dangerous 
enemy  than  novr.  Against  this,  the 
Swedes  employed  with  various  success, 
the  Jesuit's  bark, the  root  of  the  Tulip  tree 
and  of  the  Dogwood,  the  yellow  bark  of 
the  Peach  tree,  the  leaves  of  thePotentil- 
al  reptans,  and  several  other  indigenous 
preparations  which  they  adopted  from 
the  Indians  As  an  antifebrile  they 
sometimes  tied  whisps  of  Mullein,  or  In- 
di^  tobacco  around  their  arms  andfeet.^ 

•  The  increase  of  fevers   was  said   by  tlie  old 


Tlie  root  of  tho  Bay -tree  they  used  as  a 
remedy  for  the  tooth  ache,  which  "hell 
of  a'  diseases,"  as  Burns  calls  it,  the 
Swedes  brought  upon  themselves  in  con- 
sequence of  the  belief  that  nothing  was 
good  unless  eaten  as  fast  as  it  came  from 
the  fire.'*'" 

The  earliest  inhabitants  of  Racoon 
lived  in  a  very  humble  manner.  They 
had  neither  tea,  coffee,  chocolate  nor 
sugar,  and  were  too  poor  to  buy  any  in- 
toxicating drinks,  or  vessels  to  distil 
them  in.  The  first  settlers  drank  at  ta- 
ble as  a  substitute  for  tea,  a  decoction  of 
sassafras;  and  even  in  1748  they  mixed 
the  tea  they  then  used  "with  all  sorts  of 
herbs,"  says  Kalm,  "so  that  it  no  longer 
deserves  the  name  of  tea."t  For  a  long 
time  they  contniued  to  make  theit  can- 
dles and  soap  from  bay  berry  bushes. 
Their  buck-wheat  cakes,  which  were  a 
standard  dish,  were  baked  in  a  frying- 
pan,  or  on  a  stone.  The  men  wore  caps, 
breeches,  and  vests  of  the  skin  of  vari- 
ous animals.  The  women  wore  jackets 
and  petticoats  of  the  same  material. 
Their  beds,  except  tlie  sheets,  were 
composed  of  the  skins  of  wolves,  bears, 
panthers,  and  other  beasts  with  which 
our  woods  once  abounded.  They  made 
their  own  leather  for  shoes,  and  other 
articles,  dying  it  red  with  Chestnut  bark, 
Or  the  moss  of  a  certain  tree  not  now 
known;  or  black,  with  a  preparation  of 
the  common  field  Sorrel. 

Poor  as  was  the  condition  of  the 
Swedes,  far  worse  was  that  of  the  ser 
vile  Finlanders.  Instead  of  shoes  these 
wretches  were  content  with  mocassins 
of  skins  rudely  sewed  together,  and  for 
dishes  for  their  tables,  they  scooped  out 
the  knobs  of  the  Ash  tree  as  the  Siberians 
now  do.  The  Indians  of  New  Sweden, 
we  are  told,  used  to  boil  their  meat  in  a 
vessel  of  burnt  pot  stone,  mixed  with 
grains  of  quartz — two  of  them  holding  it 

Swedes  to  be  owing  to  the  loss  of  many  odorife* 
roas  plants",  which  once  grew  in  New  Sweden, 
and  which  llio  cattle  had  extirpated.  Kalm,  Vol. 
I.  p.  371. 

*  Sec  Professor  Nairn's  grave  dinsertation  on 
the  loss  of  teeth  which  the  Racoonites  and  other 
Europeans  on  the  banks  of  ths  Delawaire  suffisrcd. 
Vol.  I.  pp.  360—364. 

t  Ibid,  p.  3T0. 


9[ 
74 


©RfiKNWICH    TOW:^!iHlP. 


orer  the  fire   until  their  victuals 'were 
done.    The  Finns  of  New  Sweden  were 

goor  enough  and  lazy  enough  too,   to 
ave   done   their  cooking  in  the  same 
manner.* 

Among  the  customs  mentioned  by 
Kalm,  as  peculiar  to  the  early  Swedes 
of  Racoon  and  other  Swedish  settle- 
ments upon  the  banks  of  the  Delaware, 
there  is  one  which,  we  trust,  we  will 
be  excused  for  adverting  to.  When  a 
man  died  in  such  circumstances  that  his 
widow  could  not  pay  his  debts,  if  she 
had  an  offer  of  a  second  husband,  she 
was  obliged  to  marry  him  en  chemise.  In 
this  phght,  on  her  wedding-day,  she 
went  out  of  her  former  hoi;^e  to  that  of 
her  new  spouse,  who  met  her  half  way 
with  a  full  suit  of  clothes,  which  he  pre- 
sented to  her,  saying  he  only  lent  them; 
"lest,"  says  Kalm,  "if  he  had  stiid  he 
gave  them,  the  creditors  of  the  first  hus- 
band should  come  and  take  them  from 
her."t  If  this  be  a  fair  sample  of  the 
civilization  of  New  Sweden,  vre  can 
readily  believe  what  the  learned  Proi'es- 
sor  hints,  "that  the  Swedes  were  already 
half  Indians  when  the  English  arrived." 
In  March,  1749,  the  professor  paid  a 
visit  to  Nils  Gustafson,  who  lived  near 
Racoon.  This  man  had  seen  nearly  a 
cpntury — had  carried  much  timber  to 
Philadelphia  when  that  city  was  first  un- 
dertaken—yet had  a  vigorous  frame  and 
a  good  memory.  Kalm  questioned  him 
particularly  as  to  the  origin  of  the  do- 
mestic animals  then  in  West  Jersey,  and 
was  told  by  Gustafson  that  the  English 
got  their  horses,  cows,  oxen,  sheep, 
hogs,  geese  and  ducks  from  the  Swedes, 
who  had  brought  them  over  from  Sweden. 
We  also  owe  to  the  Swedes  the  first  seed 
of  many  of  our  most  valuable  fruits  and 
herbs,  and  of  our  wheat,  rye,  barley  and 
oats.  Peach  trees  were  in  the  olden 
time  very  numerous;  but  where  the 
Swedes  got  them  Gustafson  could  not 
tell.  In  his  infancy  the  Indians  had  ma- 
ny little  maize  plantations,  but  did  not 
take  much  care  of  them;  preferring  to 
live  upon  the  fruitsof  the  chase,  or  upon 
different  roots  or  whortleberries.     The 

•IWd,  VJ.  II.  p.  94  ind  4L     TId  Vol.  II.  p.  30. 


eavagee  had  no  agricultural  implement 
before  the  Swedes  came,  but  a  stone 
hatchet.  "With  this  tliey  peeled  the  large 
trees  when  they  had  lost  their  sap,  so 
they  would  die;  and  ilie  little  trees  they 
pulled  out  by  the  roots.  The  field  thus 
opened  to  the  sun  w»s  (.h\°^  up  with 
sharp  branches  or  pickets,  and  the  maize 
was  then  sown.  In  the  winter  they  kept^ 
their  corn  in  holes  under  ground.  Af- 
ter the  Sv.'edes  came,  and  began  to  cul- 
tivate apple  and  peach  trees;  the  Indi- 
ans often  stole  the  fruit.  Sometimes  too 
they  stole  their  hogs  as  tl)^ y  ran  wild  in 
the  woods,  and  these  they  taught  to  fol- 
low them  iamiliarly.  The  only  domes- 
tic animals  which  the  Indians  had  on  the 
arrival  of  theEuropeau.?  were  a  species 
of  little  dogs.  Being  very  fond  of  milk, 
for  which  they  were  dependent  upon  the 
Swedes,  the  savages  made  an  artificial 
liquor  very  like  it,  by  pounding  the  dried 
kernels  of  walnuts  and  hickory  nuts,  and 
mixing  the  flour  vvith  water.  In  hue 
and  sweetness  this  liquor  much  resem- 
bled milk. 

According  to  Gustafson,  the  Indians 
about  Racoon  used  to  worship  a  certain 
red  spotted  snake  as  a  deity.  Walking 
once  with  one  of  the  red  men,  the  old 
Swede  met  one  of  these  snakes,  and 
took  a  slick  to  kill  it;  but  the  Indian 
hegged  him  not  to  touch  it,  as  he  adored 
it.  This  only  confirmed  the  pious  Gus- 
tafson's  resolution,  aiid  he  killed  the 
snake,  at  the  risk  of  being  himself 
scalped.  During  the  youth  of  this  old 
man,  the  Indians  used  sometimes  to  an- 
noy the  Swedish  colonists.  They  killed 
several  of  the  men  and  stole  some  of  the 
children.  On  one  occasion  they  scalped 
a  little  girl;  who  survived,  got  a  husband, 
(thanks  perhaps  to  a  wig,)  and  had  many 
children.  Once  some  strange  savages 
attempted  to  kill  the  mother  of  Nils,  but 
.she  was  loo  stout  for  them. 

Until  the  English  arrived,  the  Swedes 
used  to  bathe  regularly  every  Saturday. 
Christmas  they  celebrated  with  various 
games,  and  by  serving  up  certain  pecu- 
liar dishes  at  table,  as  was  usual  in  old 
Sweden.  When  Gustnfson  was  a  boy 
there  were  two  Swedish  smiths  at  Ra- 
coon, who  made  excellent  knives,  scythes 


•RMXWlca    TOVfNViir. 


U 


and  hatchets,  liko  the  Swedish  ones. 
Then  also  tliey  made  their  cart  and  wag- 
on wheels  by  sawinj^  thick  horizontal 
sections  out  of  Liquid-amber  trees  ;  but 
when  the  English  came  they  began  to  use 
spokes  and  felloes;  the  first  matle  of 
White-oak  and  the  latter  of  the  Spanish 
oak.  Horses,  he  remembered,  used 
sometimes  to  run  wild  in  the  woods ;  and 
in  his  boyhood  one  cow  gave  as  much 
milk  as  lour  did  in  later  days,  owing  to 
the  great  abundance  of  good  grass  which 
they  used  to  have. 

All  this,  and  much  more  did  old  Gus- 
lafson  tell  his  learned  visiter;  but  here 
we  must  stop.  He  who  is  curious  as  to 
the  natural  history  of  New  Sweden,  or 
desires  to  know  more  of  the  manners  and 
customs  of  the  first  parishoners  of  Ra- 
coon, will  do  well  to  read  the  first  and 
second  volumes  of  Kalm's  Travels  for 
himself.  Nothing  in  nature  was  too  mi- 
nute for  the  observation  of  that  enthusi- 
astic lover  of  science,  and  nothing  in  the 
annals  of  his  countrymen  upon  the  banks 
of  the  Delaware  too  humble  to  be  re- 
corded. Blessed,  thrice  blessed,  wass 
Racoon,  in  finding  such  an  historian  ! 

At  what  time  the  first  Swedish  church 
was  built  at  Racoon,  or  who  were  its 
earlier  pastors,  we  do  not  know.  From 
1706  to  1787  the  following  clergymen 
are  mentioned  as  having  officiated 
therfiin.  Jonas  Auren,  Abraham  Lide- 
nius*Petrus  Tranberg,  Andreas  Wind- 
rufwa,  John  Sandin.  Erick  Unander, 
John  Lidenius,  John  W'icksell,  and  Nich- 
olas Collin,  the  translator  of  the  work 
left  by  Acrelius.  Most  of  these  gentle- 
men were  sent  out  by  the  mother-church 
in  Sweden,  and  some  of  them  were  men 
of  fine  talents.  They  preached  in  the 
Swedish  language  to  a  mixed  audience 
of  Swedes,  Finns,  and  Indians,  but  to 
little  effect,  it  would  seem  from  an  anec- 
dote before  given, ■>=■  so  far  as  the  natives 
were  concerned.  The  history  of  this 
church,  as  it  is  the  most  ancient  by  many 
years  of  any  in  West  Jersey,  would  be 
valuable.  Nothing  can  be  gathered  con- 
cerning  it,  prior  to  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century.     The  old  parish  re- 

•  At»(e,  p.  18. 


cords  yet  preserved  there,  are,  ve  ar» 
told,  by  no  means  devoid  of  interest; 
but  they  refer  to  a  period  much  later  than 
the  antiquarian  could  wish.  We  only 
know  that  the  ancient  temple  which  was 
taken  down  in  1784  was  built  of  cedar 
logs,  and  stood  near  the  site  of  the  pre 
sent  Episcopal  Church.  In  1765  the 
congregation  about  Racoon  were  incor- 
porated under  the  name  of  "The  Swed- 
ish Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,"  and 
to  the  petition  of  the  associators  are  ap- 
pended many  Swedish  names  still  ex- 
tant in  Gloucester  county.-**- 

The  town  of  Swedesboro'  has  had  its 
ups  and  downs,  like  most  of  the  other 
villages  we  have  noticed.  When  the 
nationahty  of  the  Swedes  was  broken 
up  by  the' inroads  of  the  English,  the 
feeling  which  before  led  them  to  cluster 
together  departed.  Repaapo  vanished 
from  existence,  and  Racoon  nearly 
shared  the  same  fate.  Towards  the  end 
of  the  last  century  it  contained  but  a 
dozen  log  dwellings,  and  a  school  house, 
tavern  and  parsonage  built  in  the  same 
manner.  Some  houses  were  burnt  here 
by  the  British  in  the  Revolution,  and  the 
furniture  and  bedding  of  Col.  Brown 
were  destroyed  by  them  in  a  bon-fire,  in 
the  road.  Of  late  years  however,  the 
'  town  has  reached  a  prosperity  which  it 
never  attained  even  in  the  best  days  of 
New  Sweden.  As  the  most  ancient  of 
the  villages  yet  standing  in  West  Jersey, 
many  a  traveler  will  turn  from  his  way 
to  visit  it  and  to  recal  its  humble,  yet 
pleasant  and  edifying  stories,  of  another 
people  and  another  time. 

MULLICA   HILL. 

The  village  of  Mullica  Hill  takieg 
its  name  from  Eric  Molica,  by  birth'  a 
Swede,  who  came  here  when  a  young 
man,  and  purchased  a  large  tract  of  land 
about  the  site  of  the  town. I  He  lived  to 
the  age  of  one  hundred  years,  and  had 

*See  ClayS  Annal*,  pas»im.  Hist.  Coll.  of  Now 
Jersey,  223  et  seq.  and  Acreliua  passim. 

T  Watson's  Anna!*,  Vol.  II,  p.  S3i  ;  Clay'«  Aft- 
n;i1<),  p.  141;  and  Hist. Coll. of  New  Jeraej,  p.  816. 
I'he  latter  work  states  that  Moiica's  inMia^ 
ttood  on  the  North  ptde  of  the  Racooo.in  ar  (t*M- 
lfa«  orahard  of  Mr.  Joieph  Poraa, 


!X 


GKKE.NWICH    TOWNSHIP. 


a  family  of  eight  jpersons  in  1693,  wlien 
the  census  of  New  Swcdrii  was  taken. 
The  name  of  Mullica  Hill  was  at  first 
j;iven  only  to  that  portion  of  the  viliaj^e 
north  of  the  Racoon ;  the  southern  part 
havinj^  been  named  Spicerville,  from 
Jacob  Spicer,  (one  of  the  ( (mipilers  of 
the  valuable  book  of  Froviticial  Laws 
which  we  have  so  often  cited)  who  came 
from  East  Jersey  early  in  the  eighteenth 
centuiry,  and  settled  Just  h^outh  of  the 
creek.  In  the  olden  time  ilullica  Hill, 
like  all  other  towns  of  a  Swedish 
derivation,  was  merely  a  settlement  of 
farmers.  The  orj^in  of  these  farm-vil- 
lages was  a  fear  of  the  Indians ;  but  they 
were  probably  held  together  long  after 
the  Indians  ceased  to  be  a  cause  of  alarm, 
by  the  gossipping^  propensities  of  the 
Swedish  matrons.  '  Being  removed  from 
the  seat  of  the  war,  Mullica  Hill  has  few 
if  any  Revolutionary  reminiscences  of  in- 
terest. Owing  however  to  the  strong 
Swedish  traits  yet  marking  the  character 
of  the  people,  the  neighborhood  abounds 
in  curious  traditions  and  superstitions, 
which  an  abler  pen  than  ours,  we  trust, 
will  soon  trive  to  the  world. -^ 


BILLING  S   PORT. 

Next  in  interest  to  the  two  chief  towns 
of  Greenwhich  township,  is  Billing's 
Port,  which  is  the  Roder  Udden  of  the 
Swedes,  or  the  "  Mantua's  Hook  oppo- 
site Tinicum"  where  Broen  wished  to 
set  up  the  arms  of  the  States  General, 
adversely  to  the  Swedish  empire. f  We 
have  strong  suspicions  notwithstanding 
the  respectable  authority  of  Barker,  that 
"the  Manteses  Plain"  whereon  Earl 
Ployden  projected  the  manor  of  Watces- 
sit,  for  his  own  august  residence,  was 
no  other  than  this  same  Billing's  Port.J 
Be  this  as  it  may,  the  place  we  know 
was  marked  out  in  the  time  of  Edward 

*  Our  friend  and  schoolmate  Wu-liam  H. 
S.vowoEN,  of  Mullica  Hill,  has  in  contemplation 
I  HiHtory  of  West  Jersey,  for  uhirh  he  has  for 
yuari"  been  collecting  matcrinl.  To  him  we  owe 
the  cu^gestion  which  gave  rise  to  these  Remini- 
•cenoea. 

t  Ante,  p.  31,  note,  i  ,\\Ar,  p.  95. 


Billinge,  as  the  niie  of  a  future  town,  and 
received  the  name  of  the  pi-oprietor. 

The  striking  advantages  of  Billing's 
Port  as  a  military  post,  were  overlooked 
by  neither  side  in  the  Revolution. ■-*  An 
extensive  fort  was  begun  here  by  the 
Americans  in  177(),  to  support  the  left  of 
the  lower  chevaux  de  frize,  but  was 
never  entirely  finished.  It  was  however 
occupied  by  a  small  garrison  when  tho 
Roebuck  and  other  forerunners  to  Lord 
Howe's  fleet  arrived  in  the  Delaware  in 
October,  1777.  Captain  Hammond  of 
the  vesel  just  named,  seeing  the  absolute 
necessity  of  forcing  a  passage,  promised 
General  Howe,  to  raise  the  chevaux  de 
frize,  if  he  pould  be  saved  from  annoy- 
ance from  the  Jersey  shore.  Accordingly 
Howe  detached  two  regiments,  who 
crossed  at  Chester,  imder  the  command 
of  Col.  Stirling,  and  marched  with  all 
haste  to  attack  the  Billings's  Port  fort  iu 
rear.  The  Americans  beinj;  greatly  in- 
ferior in  number,  sj)ikcd  their  artillery, 
burnt  the  barracks  and  retreated.  Soon 
after  this,  Lord  Cornwallis  took  post  at 
Billing's  Port  with  a  heavy  force,  under 
orders  to  make  a  second  attack  upon 
Fort  Mercer.  But  his  lordship  found  a 
Canna^,  wherever  he  stopped  !  He  was 
so  slow  in  moving,  in  the  present  case, 
that  Washington  had  time  to  detach 
General  Greene  for  the  support  of  his 
namesake  who  commanded  the  Areat- 
ened  post.  The  American  reinforcement 
started  from  Burlington  ;  but  General 
Greene  hearing  that  Cornwallis  had  be- 
come greatly  superior  to  him  in  numbers 
by  a  reinforcement  from  New  York, 
changed  his  intention  of  giving  battle, 
immediately  after  which  Red  Bank  with 
its  guns  and  stores,  was  abandonedt  to 
the  British,  and  dismantled. 

In  the  late  war  Billing's  Port  again 
bristled  with  bayonets;  an  encampment 
of  the  South  Jersey  troops  having  been 
made  there  under  the  direction  of  Gen- 
rals  Gaines  and  Elmer.  An  expedition 
fitted  out  from  this  place  against  a  British 
tender  which  had  been  frequently  seen 

•  Sparks'  Washington,  Vol.  V,  pp.  77,  84  and 
Vol.  Ill,  427;  Simcoe's  Jonr.  pp.  153,  296. 

t  Otia'  Botta.New  Haven,  1840,  Vol.  II.  p.  43, 
52,  etc. 


CiRKKNWJCH    TOWNSHIP. 


77 


in  the  bay  and  river,  is  the  subject  of 
much  merriment  amongthe  Billing's  Port 
campaigners.  A  schooner  was  chartered 
and  manned  with  forty  or  fiity  raw  lands- 
men, and  a  sea  captain  in  the  dragoons 
selected  as  commanding  officer,  with  in- 
structions to  drive  off  the  saucy  tender. 
When  the  schooner  got  into  the  bay  the 
weaiherw-as  so  rough,  that  all  her  force 
save  the  captain  and  two  or  three  other 
initiated  sailors,  were  obliged  to  go  un- 
der batches,  where  they  soon  became 
very  sick,  and  entirely  hors  du  combat. 
In  this  plight  the  captain  spied  the  ten- 
der, and  with  genuine  Yankee  impu- 
dence, gave  chase.  The  tender  crowded 
canvass  and  put  to  sea,  though  her 
barge's  crew  could  undoubtedly  have 
taken  the  schooner  in  a  very  few  minutes. 

THE    LANDING  PLAClE. 

At  the  mouth  of  the  Racoon,  we  have 
seen,  our  forefathers,  the  first  permanent 
settlers  of  West  Jersey,  first  landed.  The 
exact  spot  of  their  debarkation  might,  we 
imagine,  be  determined  upon  an  exami- 
nation of  the  place,  and  if  so  it  would 
possess  to  us  quite  as  much  interest  as 
any  point  in  our  county.  "  This  spot," 
it  has  been  well  said,  "will  ever  be 
connected  with  recollections  the  most 
interesting  to  us,  and  which  it  becomes 
us  to  cherish.  We  labor  with  patient 
perseverance  to  trace  the  streams  of  the 
ancient  world,  and  become  familiar  with 
every  torrent  and  every  brook.  We 
visit  in  fancy  the  borders  of  the  Eurotas, 
and  linger  by  the  side  of  the  golden 
Hermus.  All  this  is  well;  but  we  must 
not  suffer  the  scenes  in  our  own  story  to 
be  forgotten.  I.et  every  spot  be  noted, 
that  it  may  not  be  said  in  after  times. 
An  ungrateful  generation  permitted  ti'ie 
memory  of  their  fathers  to  perish.  Or 
if  we  are  prompted  by  no  filial  feelings 
towards  the  actors,  we  can  not  be  in- 
sensible of  the  movement  here  made. 
The  advent  of  thesp  pilgrims — small 
as  was  their  number — was  of  more 
consequence  to  the  interests  of  humanity 
than  most  of  the  brilliant  achievements  of 
martial  hosts.  Of  the  many  battles  that 
have  been  fought,  of  the  many  warriors 
who  have  figured  upon  the  field  of  con- 


quest, how  few  have  left  a  lasting  influ- 
ence for  good  !  The  victory  of  to-day 
is  lost  on  the  morrow,  and  both  victors 
and  van(iuished  sink  together  into  utter 
forgetfulness.  But  here  vi  feeble  band, 
without  art  or  arms,  with  no  standard 
but  the  olive  branch,  laid  the  foundation 
of  a  work  which  we  trust  will  stand 
forever;  and  not  only  ourselves  but  our 
descendants  through  all  generations 
shall  look  back  to  that  spot  and  that 
bom',  with  increasing  feelings  of  grati- 
tude and  affection. "■>"''  As  yet  no  sculp- 
tured marble  adorns  our  Delaware  Ply- 
mouth, but  to  the  sneerer  every  true 
friend  of  man  can  exclaim — Circwnspice! 

Of  the  several  small  villages  which 
have  arisen  in  comparatively  late  days 
in  this  township,  it  is  unnecessary  to 
speak.  None  of  them  can  become  inter- 
esting to  the  antiquarian,  so  long  as 
Racoon  and  Molica's  Mill,  and  the  Man- 
teses  Plain  and  the  Landing  Place  are 
known.  Let  us  then  in  conclusion  see 
in  what  manner  old  wide-belted  Green- 
wich has  been  chopped  into  divers  sub- 
divisions, by  the  irreverent  utilitarianism, 
of  modern  times. 

As  this  township  fit  first  extended  from 
Mantua  Creek  to  Oldman's,  it  was  soon 
I'elt  by  the  inhabitants  in  the  lower  part 
to  be'advisable  to  set  up  for  themselves. 
Their  spontaneous  election  of  overseers 
and  nomination  perhaps  of  k  constable, 
ratified  at  first  by  fhe  County  Court  and 
afterwards  by  the  Colonial  Legisla- 
ture, gave  rise  about  1 7.50  to  the  township 
of  Woolwich.f  This  latter  took  its  name 
from  a  town  on  the  Thames,  famous  for 
its  naval  school,  as  the  mother-township, 
Greewich,  did  from  the  English  naval 
asylum,  from  the  observatory  of  which' 
all  Christendom  reckons  the  meridian 
of  longitude.  The  termination,  wich,\s 
from  the  Saxon  tuic,  signifying  a  place 
en  the  shore,X  or  more  properly,  says 
Jacobs,  a  viUage.\ 

*  Mulford's  Lecture,  MSS. 

+  At  April  Term,  1767,  the  present  name  first 
occurs — Francis  BaUen  and  William  Kay  ha,ving 
been  then  appoinled  "Surveyors  for  the  new  town- 
ship of  VVoulvvich."  But  for  many  years  befora 
this  WooUvich  had  been  called  Lower  Greenwich 
and  had  a  constable  of  its  own. 

t  1  Co.  In.  4.  II  Ruffhead'8  Jacobs,  let.  W, 


7« 


mm  HAHBOK  0A  wtvr  watm^uth. 


In  1820*  the  township  of  Franklin 
was  erected  from  parts  of  Greenwich 
and  \\oolwich;  and  by  the  last  Legisla- 
ture— an  application  having  been  made 
for  a  new  township  to  be  erected  out  of 
Woolwich,  to  be  called  Harrison — a  law 
was  passed  creating  the  township  of 
Spicer.  This  name  was  given  in  honor 
of  Jacob  Spicer,  whom  we  have  before 
mentioned. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

the  township  of  egg  harbor  or  new 
waymouth;  and  heijein  of  the  five 
itjwnships  of  atlantic. 

—— cPniu  durum  sumiis,  r.rpciiensque  lalioruin; 

Kt  ducunieiiu  datnus. 

Ovid,  Met.  Lib.  1.  p.  414. 

We  have  already  seen  that  when  the 
people  upon  the  sea-board  of  old  Glou- 
cester county  first  had  tithing  officers 
assigned  them  by  the  Grand  Jury,  which 
was  al)out  1708,  their  township  was 
called  Egg  Hakbou  or  New  Wa  VMouTn.f 
This  township  undoubtedly  comprised 
all  the  present  county  of  Atlantic,  l)y  far 
the  greater  part  of  which  was  then  en- 
tirely unsubdued.  When  the  population 
began  to  increase  and  spread  along  the 
shore,  a  new  township  was  found  neces- 
sary, and  Galloway  was  therefore  cre- 
ated, in  the  same  manner  it  seems  pro- 
bable that  Gloucestertown  and  Wool- 
wich had  been  created  some  years  be- 
fore— Yiamely,  by  the  voluntary  act  of 
tiie  people  themselves,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, with  the  subsequent  sanction  .of 
the  County  Court  and  the  final  appro- 
bation of^  the  Colonial  Legislature. 
The  first  time  that  Galloway  is  men- 
tioned in  the  county  records  is  in  March, 
1775,  when  the  court  allotted  to  her  and 
to  Egg  Hari)or  two  constable  each.  Her 
nam(!  does  not  appear  in  the  laws  of  the 
Colony  prior  to  the  general  act  of  incor- 
poration in  1798;  and  her  origin  therefore 
we  must  set  down  as  lost  in  antiquity. 
Her  name  is  probably  taken  from  a  tongue 
of  land  in  Solway  Frith,  Scotland, called 
■Galloway  Mull. 

•  On  iho  97th  of  January.    Rct.  Liwi,  p.  861. 
f  Ante.  |>.  IS. 


The  alias.  New  Waymouth,  by  which 
the  township  of  Egg  Harbor  was  some- 
times called,,  seems  to  have  been  drop- 
ped early  in  the  last  century.  But 
when  on  the  twelfth  of  February  1798* 
Egg  Harbor  was  divided,  this  old  name 
was  in  part  revived — the  new  township 
being  dubbed  Weymouth.  Hamiltoa 
was  erected  from  Egg  Harbor  and  Wey- 
mouth on  the  fifth  of  February  lS13,t 
and  Mullicafrom  Galleway  on  the  iwen- 
ty-lirst  of  February  1S39.|  In  the  pre- 
sent work,  iin  the  reader  will  have  seen, 
we  merely  mention  the  subdivisions  of 
the  six  townships  erected  in  169.5  or 
very  soon  afterwards,  as  matters  of  his- 
tory. When  we  speak  of  the  township 
of  Greenwich  we  mean  the  primitive 
Greenwich,  which  included  the  present 
townsliip  of  that  name,  as  well  as  Wool- 
wich, Franklin  and  Spicer;  and  when 
we  speak  of  the  township  of  Egg  Har 
bor  or  New  Waymouth,  we  mean  to 
embrace  all  the  live  townships  now 
forming  Atlantic  county. 

The  name  of  Eyer  Haven  or  Egg 
Harbor,  was  given  to  the  large  port 
upon  the  sea-board  of  our  county 
from  the  fact  that  the  early  navigators 
found  there  an  immense  (juantity  of  sea- 
bird  eggs.]]  With  this  Gabriel  Thom- 
as' testimony  fully  agrees.  The  latter 
writer  in  enumerating  the  streams  of 
West  Jersey,  mentions  "  Great  Egg 
Harbor  River,  up  which  a  ship  of  two 
or  three  hundred  tuns  may  sail,  which 
ruqs  by  the  back  part  of  the  county  into 
the  main  sea — I  call  it  back  part,  be- 
cause the  first  improvements  made  by 
Christians  was  Delaware  River-side; 
this  place  is  noted  for  good  store  of 
corn,  horses,  cows,  sheep,  hogs,  etc., 
the  lands  thereabouts  being  much  im- 
proved and  built  upon;  and  Little  Egg 
Harbor  Creek  which  take  their  names 
from  the  great  abundance  of  eggs  which 
the  swans,  geese,  ducks  and  other  wild 
fowls  on  those  rivers  lay  thereabouts."^ 

•  Palersoii's  Laws,  p.  264.     t  Rev.  Laws,  p.  559. 
t  I'.impl).  p.  95. 

(1  De  Lacf,  NovuB  Orbis,  p.  76:     "  Ororura    tcI 
etiani  sinuuin  portum  vocant  noatr&tec." 
§  Weit  J«rMy,  p.  87. 


BOa   BARBOR    OR    KENT    WATMOUTH. 


7« 


This  description,  like  most  that 
Thomas  wrote,  has  a  high  tinge  of  the 
coleur  de  rofie.  At  least  good  old  4ohn 
Fothergill  who  travelled  through  Egg 
Harbor  township  early  in  1722,  seems 
not  to  have  found  the  advanced  state  of 
civilization  and  improvement  which  we 
might  expect  from  what  his  predecessor 
tells  us.  He  speaks  of  taking  a  "journey 
through  the  desarts"  from  Chesterfield, 
in  Burlington,  to  Little  Egg  Harbor. 
Here,  at  tlie  house  of  Gervas  Farrar  he 
held  a  meeting  "  and  had  a  pretty  good 
timQ  in  the  extending  of  the  love  of  truth 
to  the  poor  people  thereaway."  The 
next  day  he  "travelled  part  by  land  and 
through  dismal  marshes,  and  part  by 
water  in  canoes  to  Great  Egg  Harbor," 
where,  he  tells  us,  he  held  another  meet- 
ing, "among  some  poor  dark  people  that 
came  thither."  After  holding  a  third 
meeting  for  the  edification  of  the  natives, 
at  one  John  Scull's,  he  started  over  "a 
great  river"  to  Cape  May,  but  was  near- 
ly drowned  in  the  crossing."'  Whether 
the  Capemen  held  out  encouragement 
for  the  worthy  preacher  to  stay  longer 
with  them  than  he  did  in  Egg  Harbor, 
we  do  not  know;  but  certain  it  is  the 
sturdy  inhabitants  of  the  latter  region 
have  never  been  over  fond  of  long  ser- 
mons of  any  kind.  They  are  hardy, 
brave,  industrious  and  honest;  but  like 
the  Indian  at  the  Racoon  Church,  "a 
great  deal  of  prattle  and  nonsense"  with- 
out either  brandy  or  cider  to  wash  it 
down,  they  cannot  endure. 

In  the  Revolution,  the  Refugees  of 
South  Jersey,  Delaware  and  Maryland 
were  continually  passing  to  and  from 
New  York,  and  other  northern  points, 
by  way  of  Egg  Harbor.  These  trouble- 
some strangers  did  infinite  mischief  to 
the  property  of  the  shore  men,  who  were 
generally  good  Whigs;  but  on  some  oc- 
casions the  tables  were  turned  and  the 
Refugees  got  their  full  deserts.  Early 
in  September,  1782,  Capt.  Douglas,  with 
some  of  the  Gloucester  militia  attacked 
a  boat  containing  eighteen  Refugees,  of 
whom  fourteen  were  killed.f     Several 

•  Folhereill's  Journal,  first  ed.  p.  102. 

i  State  Gasette,  ia  New  Jeriey  Hiit.  Coll.  p.  69. 


other  equally  severe  retaliations  are  re- 
corded. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  var,  some 
people  at  Egg  Harbor  and  others  further 
up  in  the  interior,  got  to  carrying  on  a 
considerable  trade  with  the  British  in 
New  York.  The  Refugees  often  came 
there  in  large  bodies  and  committed 
great  depredations  on  the  people  ;  and 
the  troops  taken  at  the  capture  of  Lord 
Cornwallis,  who  were  cantoned  in  Vir- 
ginia, frequently  escaped  in  small  parties, 
and  by  concealing  themselves  in  the 
woods  in  the  day  and  onl)'  travelling  by 
night,  by  the  assistance  of  guides  and 
I'riends  whom  they  found  on  theiv  way, 
got  to  Egg  Harbor  and  from  thence  to 
New  York.  To  prevent  all  this,  Capt. 
John  Davis  was  sent  with  a  company  of 
men  to  Egg  Harbor.  On  one  occasion 
his  lieutenant,  Benjamin  Bates,  with 
Richard  Powell,  a  private,  called  at  a 
house  where  Davis  had  been  informed, 
over  night,  th'at, two  Refugee  officers 
were  lodging.  Bates  got  to  the  house 
before  any  of  the  family  had  risen  except 
two  girls,  who  were  making  a  fire  in  the 
kitchen.  He  inquired  if  there  wei'e  any 
persons  in  the  house  beside  the  family, 
and  was  answered  "  none,  except  two 
men  from  up  in  the  country."  He  bade 
the  girls  show  him  where  they  were, 
which  they  did.  In  passing  through  a 
room  separating  the  kitchen  from  the 
bed-room,  he  saw  two  pistols  lying  on  a 
table.  Knocking  at  the  door,  he  was  at 
first  refused  admittance;  but  finding  him 
determined  to  enter,  the  two  Refugees 
finally  let  hiVn  in.  They  refused  to  tell 
their  names,  but  were  afterwards  found 
to  be  William  Giberson  and  Henry  Lane, 
Refugee  lieutenants,  the  former  a  noto- 
rious rascal  who  had  committed  many 
outrages,  and  killed  one  or  two  Ameri- 
cans in  cold  blood.  On  their  way  to  the 
•quarters  of  Davis'  company,  Giberson 
called  Bates'  attention  to  something  he 
pretended  to  see  at  a  distance;  and 
while  Bates  was  looking  in  that  direc- 
tion Giberson  started  in  another,  and 
being  a  very  fast  rimner,  although  Bates 
fired  his  musquet  at  him,  he  made  his 
escape.  Davis  on  being  informed  of 
what  had  happened,  told  Bates  to  try 


80 


KGO    HARllOK   OK    NEW    WAWIOUTH. 


a^aln  the  next  nig-ht.  Accordino^ly  the 
next  nij^ht  he  went  to  the  same  house. 
While  in  the  act  of  openinj^  the  door  lie 
beard  the  click  of  a  musket  cock,  Itehind 
a  lar<2;e  tree  within  a  few  feet  of  him, 
and  turning  an:>und,  saw  Gibcrson  just 
taking  aim  at  him.  He  dropped  on  his 
knees  and  the  ball  cut  the  rim  of  his  hat. 
Giberson  started  to  run,  but  before  he 
had  got  many  rods  Bates  gave  him  a 
load  of  buck-shot  which  broke  his  leg. 
He  was  well  guarded  until  he  could  be 
removed  with  Lane  to  Burlington  goal, 
from  which  Ifowever  he  soon  made  his 
escape  and  went  to  New  York.--  Gibcr- 
son was  a  large  man,  of  almost  incredible 
strength  and  activity.  It  is  said  that  at 
a  running  jump  he  could  clear  the  top  of 
an  ordinary  Egg  Harbor  wagon,  but 
since  the  MSS.  which  we  are  following 
do  not  mention  the  fact,  we  think  it 
may  well  be  doubted.f 

About  the  time  of  Giberson's  capture, 
Davis  was  informed  of  a  p&rty  of  twenty- 
one  British  troops  who  had  escaped 
from  the  cantonment  in  Virginia,  and 
arrived  upon  the  E^^  Harbor  shore. 
Knowing  where  they  would  embark,  he 
secreted  himself  wiiii  nineteen  men  near 
where  the  boat  lay,  which  was  to  take 
them  off  to  the  vessel,  and. there  waited 
their  approat^h.  When  they  came,  a 
very  warm  contest  ensued,  hand  to  hand 
and  foot  to  foot.  Davis  and  his  men 
were  completely  victorious  —  having 
killed  or  taken  prisoner  every  English- 
man. "What  1  here  give"  run  our 
MSS.  "is  part  from  my  own  knowledge 
and  part  from  such  sources  as  1  think 
may  be  relied  on."  Of  the  locality  of 
these  incidents  the  MSS.  say  nothing 
definite ;  but  we  have  no  doubt  that  a 
little  inquiry  of  tliat  worthy  personage, 
"the  oldest  inhabitant,"  would  fix  the 
very  spot  where  they  occurred. 

During  the  war,    Elijah    Clark   and* 
Richard  Westcott,  Esqs.,  built  at  their 


•  MSS.  or  a  Septuagenariiin  penes  me. 

t  There  was,  a  few  years  ago,  a  woman  named 
Gibersnn,  living  in  Salem  county,  who  roiild 
stand  in  one  hogrghcad  and  without  using  her 
hands,  jump  into  another  hogshead  standing  by 
its  f.ide,  with  all  case. 


own  expense,  a  small  fori  ai  the  Vox 
Burrows,  on  Chestnut  Neck,  "  near  the 
port  of  Little  Ejrg  Harbor,"  and  bought 
for  it  a  number  of  cannon  f<irtlie  defence 
of  said  port.  While  the  Revolutionary 
Lejjislature  was  in  session  at  Jladdon- 
lield,  in  September,  1777,  the  two 
branches  passed  a  resolution  for  paying 
Clark  and  Westcott  four  hundred  and 
thirty  pounds,  one  shilling  and  three 
pence  for  this  fort;-'-"  which,  we  are 
told,  was  at  one  time  defended  by  fifteen 
htindred  of  the  shore  men,  who,  upon 
the  enemy  ascending  the  river  in  great 
force  in  barges,  evacuated  it.f  The 
good  people  of  Chestnut  Neck  ought  to 
mark  the  site  of  this  old  redoubt,  that 
future  ages  may  know  it. 

may's   lanoing. 

May's  Landing,  the  shire  town  of 
Atlantic  county,  takes  its  name  from 
George  May,  who  settled  there  in  1710, 
and  opened  a  store  for  the  supply  of 
wood  vessels,  putting  into  the  Great 
Egg,  Harbor.  Ilis  house,  a  gambrel 
roofed  building,  a  story  and  a  half  in 
heighth,  stood  until  1330,  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  river,  a  few  rods  above  the 
mouth  of  Babcock's  Creek.  Col.  West- 
cott, one  ol'  the  builders  of  the  fort  at  the 
Fox  Burrows,  moved  from  the  Forks  of 
Little  Egg  Harbor  to  Mays  Landing, 
after  the  close  of  the  war,  and  died 
some  twenty  years  ago,  at  the  ripe  age 
of  one  hundred  and  two.  The  olde  t 
church  in  May's  Landing^  was  built  by 
the  Baptists  in  1782,  and  formerly  this 
c6ngregation  and  the  Methodists  used 
to  worship  in  the  same  temple.  Among 
other  improvements  which  have  marked 
the  village  since  it  became  a  shire  town, 
is  a  neat  Presbyterian  Church,  situated 
near  the  Court  House,  amid  the  primal 
forest  trees. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1813,  the  sloop 
New  Jersey,  from  this  villag-e,  manned 
by  Capt.  Barton  and  two  hands,  was 
taken  by  a  British  armed  schooner  off 
Cape  May.     A  young  middy,  and  two 

*  See  Voles  and  Proceedings  of  Legisl&tive 
Council,  1777,  p.  10.3. 

t  New  Jersey  Hist.  Coll.,  p.  63. 


OBLITERATED  VILLAGES. 


81 


Englishmen  and  an  Irishman  were  put 
on  board  the  Jersey,  %vith  orders  to  fol- 
low the  schooner,  15ut  three  Yankees 
are  not  to  be  beaten  by  sucli  poor  odds 
as  this  !  Barton  and  his  men  soon  re- 
covered the  sloop  and  run  her  in  at 
Somers'  Point,  with  the  middy  and  his 
three  assistants  as  prisoners.  The  lirst 
was  confined  awhile  and  then  exchanged 
— and  of  the  latter,  the  Englishmen  soon 
went  to  work  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
the  Irishman  enlisted  on  board  of  one  of 
Jefl'erson's  gun-boats  and  fought  bravely 
for  the  "gridiron."'-" 

The  other  villages  in  the  township 
under  consideration  have  nothing  but 
outlandish  names,  to  recommend  them 
to  notice.  Yet  there  is  little  in  this. 
Any  civil  man  can  stop  at  \S'rangleboro' 
without  quarelling,  and  any  honest  one 
pass  through  Bargaintown  without  being 
cheated;  which  is  not  the  case,  we 
ween,  at  some  other  places  which  have 
far  less  ominous  titles..  The  towns 
situated  near  the  sea,  are  peopled  by 
hardy  fishermen  and  bay-men.  The 
shore-road  upon  the  sea  side,  which 
connects  Somers'  with  liOeds'  Points, 
runs  through  an  almost  continuous  set- 
tlement of  tishermen-farmers,  whose  neat 
white  houses  present  a  very  pretty 
view  from  vessels  a  league  or  two  at 
sea. 

Hamilton,  Weymouth,  Pennypot,  Pleas- 
ant Mills,  Atsion,  and  Gloucester  are 
furnace  or  factory  villages  generally  im- 
mured in  the  forest,  and  containing  few 
inhabitants  except  those  engaged  in 
manufacturing,  and  their  families.  They 
are  all  of  modern  origin,  and  of  them 
therefore  we  have  nothing  to  say. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

OBLITERATED    VILLAGES. 

Near  yonder  thorn,  that  lifts  its  head  on  high 
Where  once  the  sign  post  caught  the  passing  eye, 
low  lies  that  house  were  nut-brown  draughts  inspired, 
Where  gray-beard  mirth  and  smiling  toil  retir'd, 
Where  village  statesmen  talk'd  with  looks  profound. 
And  news  muci)  older  than  their  ale  went  round. 

Goldsmith's  Descried  ViUage. 

Although  but  two  centuries  have  rolled 


away  since  the  blows  of  the  white  man's 
axe  first  resounded  upon  the  banks  of 
the  Delaware,  we  do  not  lack  evidence 
of  Time's  rude  work,  in  the  way  of  ruined 
villages.  Where  is  Dorchester,  once 
the  queen  of  Prince  Maurice  River?  She 
flickers,  but  only  flickers,  like  a  dying 
taper.  And  where  is  Antioch,  which 
once  stood  south  of  the  Cohansey?  Swept 
from  existence,  and  her  very  name  un- 
heard of! 

In  old  Gloucester,  there  are  several 
decayed,  towns  of  some  of  which  it  is 
impossible  to  fix  even  the  site.  The 
first  is 

THE  VILLAGE  OF  REPAAPO. 

Our  knowledge  of  this  place  is  derived 
solely  from  Kalm,  who  visited  it  from 
Racoon  on  the  fifth  of  May,  1749,  and 
returned  the  same  evening,  "Early 
this  morning/'  says  he,-  "  I  went  to 
Repaapo,  tvhich  is  a  great  village,  whose 
farms  ly  all  scattered.  It  teas  inhabited 
merehj  bij  Swedes,  and  not  a  single 
Englishman  or  people  of  any  other  na- 
tion lived  in  it.  Therefore  they  have 
preserved  their  native  Swedish  tongue, 
and  mixed  but  few  English  words  with 
it.  The  intention  of  my  journey  was 
partly  to  see  the  pleice,  and  to  collect 
plants  and  other  natural  curiosities  there; 
and  partly  to  find  the  places  where  the 
White  Cedar,  or  Cupressus  Thyoides 
grows."  Of  this  White  Cedar,  he  tells 
us  "many  of  the  houses  in  Repaapo 
were  made."t  It  grew  in  abundance  in 
the  swamps  about  the  village.  Bullfrogs 
also  seem  to  have  abounded  there,  and 
Kalm,  who  had  never  heard  them  before, 
took  their  roaring  at  first  for  the  bellow- 
ing of  "  a  bad  goring  bull."  He  relates 
a  curious  race  between  a  young  Indian 
and  one  of  these  bullfrogs,  which  was 
once  run  to  decide  a  bet  made  by  some 
Swedes.  By  a  very  odd  application  of 
a  coal  of  fire,  the  frog  was  made  to  beat 
his  competitor,:]:  although  the  latter  could 
himself  almost  keep  up  with  the  best 
horse. 

Where  this  village  of  Repaapo  was 
located,  we  can  form  something  like  a 


•  Id.  |>.  m. 


•  Vol.  II,  p.  1G8,    t  Id.  p.  17.5.    tid.  p.  173; 


e$ 


OBLITERATED    TILLAGES. 


ji^css.  The  description  of  the  country 
.bout  it,  the  mention  of  its  "dykes,"  and 
its  nearness  to  Racoon,  are  confirmatory 
of  the  supposition  to  which  its  name 
naturally  leads.  It  must  have  been  upon 
Repaupo  Creek,  near  the  river;  though 
we  are  not  aware  that  the  traditions  of 
the  vicinity  have  preserved  even  the 
name  of  this — the  last  vestige  of  New 
Sweden. 

NEW-TOWN. 

We  have  before  said  upon  the  au- 
thority of  Smith, ^^  that  Newby  and  the 
other  first  English  settlers  in  ^Newton 
laid  out  a  town  upon  Newton  Creek, 
where  the  Old  Burying  Ground  is,  and 
built  there  a  small  village.  This  was  in 
1682,  after  Gloucester  had  been  founded; 
so  that  the  village  was  properly  called 
New-TOWN.  From  this  town,  the  creek 
and  township  took  their  name.  Although 
Newby  and  his  friends  scattered  over 
the  country,  as  soon  as  they  found  that 
the  Indians  were  not  at  all  dangerous, 
in  consequence  of  which  New-town  soon 
decayed,  yet  we  find  it  still  accounted 
a  town  by  Thomas  in  1698,  and  by  the 
clerk  of  the  county  at  a  much  later  period. 
The  former  mentions  "  Newton  River 
that  runs  by  Newton-]-"  and  the  latter, 
we  believe,  dockets  a  license  granted 
to  some  one  to  keep  a  tavern  "  near 
New-town."  Some  traces  of  the  primi- 
tive Meeting  House  erected  here  in 
1684,  and  the  now  weed-choked  and 
neglected  cemetery  are  all  that  remains 
of  the  once  respectable  village. 

THE   TOWN    OF   UPTON. 

The  third  decayed  town  of  our  county 
is  Upton — "  the  town  of  Upton  on  Glo- 
tester  River" — of  which  the  earliest 
Woodbury  records  frequently  make  men- 
tion. It  is  supposed  by  some  to  have 
been  located  at  the  place  where  the 
King's  Road  crossed  Little  Timber 
Creek,  or  Little  Gloucester  River;  and 
by  others  at  the  place  where  the  said 
road  struck  Big  Timber  Creek,  a  short 
distance  above  the  present  truss  bridge, 
upon  the  north  bank  of  the  stream.  The 

•  Ante,  p.  *2.         +  Weit  J»r«ey,  p.  29. 


remains  of  a  tavern  were  visible  until  a 
few  years  ago,  at  the  spot  designated 
upon  Little  Timber  Creek,  and  there  are 
traditions  of  there  having  been  other 
houses  there.  This,  Michael  Fisher, Esq. 
thinks  was  the  spot.  George  Ward, 
Edward  Williams,  Isaac  Pearson,  John 
Brown,  John  Euno  and  several  other  of 
the  principal  men  of  Gloucester  county 
resided,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  at 
Upton. 

towns  upon  the  sea-coast. 

In  the  Revolution  there  was  a  con- 
siderable settlement  at  the  Forks  of 
liittle  E<rg  Harbor  river  which  went  to 
decay  before  it  had  received  a  name.  It 
contained  some  thirty  houses,  and  was 
inhabited  by  adventurers  engaged  in 
"  running  goods"  when  Philadelphia 
was  in  posession  of  the  British,  Priva- 
teering vessels  frequently  ascended  the 
Mullica  to  land  their  cargoes.  The 
goods  were  discharged  with  great  se- 
crecy and  despatch  and  carried  up  the 
country  in  wagons  apparently  filled  with 
clams,  fish  or  wood. 

There  was,  it  seems,  another  village, 
on  Chestnut  Neck,  between  the  Mullica 
and  Nacote  Creek,  where  the  Foxbur- 
rows  Fort  stood.  It  contained  some 
store-houses,  which  were  burnt  by  the 
British  when  the  Zebra  and  other  ves- 
sels broke  up  the  American  privateer 
rendevous  at  Tuckerton." 

On  Great  Egg  Harbor  Bay,  in  Glou- 
cester county,  according  to  Scott,  there 
was  formerly  a  town  called  Egg  Harbor, 
the  inhabitants  of  which  exported  large 
quantities  of  pine.t  As  this  writer  lived 
in  Philadelphia,  and  compiled  his  work 
with  a  great  deal  of  care,  we  have  no 
doubt  there  was  a  village  of  this  name  ; 
but  where  it  stood  or  into  what  it  has 
been  changed  we  are  unable  to  tell 

Such,  such  are  the  works  of  time  ! 
Six  of  our  villages,  all  of  them  once  re- 
spectable and  some  of  them  "great"  and 
populous,  have  forever  passed  away. 
Two  centuries  more,  and  who  knows 
but  that  it  may  bo  questioned  whether 

•  New  Jersey  Hist.  Coll.  pp.  68. 109.  •te. 
t  UniTersal  Gazeteer,  Vol.  II.  lot.  E. 


NATURAL  HI8T0«T,    FOSSIL    REMAINS,  ETC. 


83 


Woodbury  or  Haddonfield  ever  existed 

Teinpus  edax  rerum  tuque  invidiosa  velustas 
Omnia  destruitis! 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

NOTES  UPON  THE  NATURAL  HISTORY,  TO- 
POGRAPHY AND  FOSSIL  ANTIQUITIES  OF 
THE    COUNTY    OF   GLOUCESTER. 

Agricola,  iiicurvo  terram  molitus  arato, 
Exesa  inveniet  scahra  robi^ine  pila 

Graadiaque  efTossU  mirabitur  ossa  sepiilchris. 

VlRG.  Crtorg  U  494. 

Professor  Kalm  on  one  occasion  called 
too:ether  '•  the  oldest  Swedes  in  the 
parish  of  Racoon,"  to  question  them 
upon  divers  topics  in  the  natural  history 
and  topography  of  that  part  of  New 
Sweden.  This  interesting  meeting  seems 
to  have  been  attended  by  Maons  Keen, 
a  septuagenarian,  who  had  children, 
grand-children  and  great-grand-children 
forty-five""' — by  Aoke  Helm,  still  more 
aged,  whose  father  came  over  with 
Governor  Printz — by  Peter  Rambo, 
sixty  years  old — by  Sven  Laock  (or 
Lock),  William  Cobb,  and  another 
Swede  named  King,  who  were  each 
above  fifty — and  though  last,  not  least, 
by  Eric  Ragnilson,  the  churchwarden 
of  Racoon,  at  whose  house  probably  the 
council  met.f  As  no  mention  is  made  of 
Nils  Gastafson  upon  this  occasion,  we 
may  take  it  for  granted  that  his  lumbago, 
or  some  other  cause  prevented  him  from 
walking  into  the  village. 

The  whole  council  agreed  in  asserting 
that  whenever  a  well  was  dug  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Racoon,  they  always 
found  at  the  depth  of  twenty  or  thirty 
feet,  great  numbers  of  clam  and  oyster 
shells.  In  many  places  reeds  and  rushes 
had  been  found  almost  entirely  unde- 
cayed;  and  on  one  occasion  a  hank  of 
flax,  duly  tied  together  and  in  perfect 
preservation,  was  brought  up  from  a 
depth  of  more  than  twenty  feet.  "  Can 
it  be  supposed"  asks  Kalm,  "  that  past 
ages  have  seen  a  nation  here  so  early 

•  ICalm'B  Travels,  Vol.  IT,  p.  4. 
\  Id.  VoL  I,  p.  313,  el  teq. 


acquainted  with  the  use  of  flax  ?  I  would 
rather  abide  by  the  opinion  that  the 
American  plants  Limim  Firginianum  or 
Antirrhumin  Canadense  or  other  similar 
ones  have  been  taken  for  flax."''-  Char- 
coal, firebrands,  great  branches,  blocks, 
and  Indian  trowels,  had  often  been  found 
very  deep  in  the  ground.  One  of  King's 
relatives,  who  lived  eight  miles  from  the 
Delaware  on  a  hifl  near  a  rivalut,  dis- 
covered in  digging  a  well,  at  the  depth 
of  forty  feet,  a  great  number  of  shells, 
reeds  and  broken  branches. I  Peter 
Rambo  testified  that  in  several  places  at 
Racoon  people  had  met  deep  in  the 
ground  vast  quantities  of  muscles  and 
other  marine  animals,  and  logs  of  wood, 
some  putrified  and  others  burnt.  A 
huge  spoon  and  bricks  had  also  been 
dug  up  there.  Maons  Keen  had  found 
at  the  depth  of  forty  feet,  a  great  piece 
of  chestnut  wood,  roots  and  stalks  of 
reeds,  and  clayey  earth  with  a  saline 
taste.  Sven  Laock  and  William  Cobb 
confirmed  all  these  facts;  and  stated 
farther,  that  "  on  making  a  dyke  some 
years  before,  along  the  river  on  which 
the  church  at  Racoon  stands,  and  for 
this  purpose  cutting  through  a  bank,  it 
was  found  quite  full  of  oyster  shells, 
though  the  place  is  above  an  hundred  ■ 
and  twenty  miles  from  the  nearest  sea- 
shore. These  men  and  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Racoon"  continues  Kalm,  "con- 
cluded from  this  circumstance  (of  their 
own  accord  and  without  being  led  to  the 
thought)  that  this  tract  of  land  was  a 
part  of  the  sea  many  years  ago." 

It  is  stated  in  an  old  work  of  very 
good  authority^  that  the  bones  of  a  huge 
carnivorous  animal  had  been  discovered 
by  a  negro  who  was  digging  a  ditch 
three  or  four  feet  deep  in  a  meadow 
near  the  Delaware,  in  Gloucestercounty. 
?i.  part  of  these  bones  were  sent  to  Phila- 
delphia as  curiosities.  Shark's  teeth,  it 
is  said,  have  been  found,  in  a  marl  bed 
north  of  Cooper's  Creek,  about  one  mile 
from  the  Delaware,  and  fossil  crocodiles 
have  been  discovered  in  many  parts  of 

•  Id.  p.  358.  t  Id.  p.  353,  tl  $eq. 

X  WinUrbotham'i  America,  Vol.  JI,  p.  S63, 
1st  ed. 


84 


NATURAL   HISTOKT,    FOSSIL  REMAINS,  ETC 


West  Jersey.  These  phenomena,  which 
are  almost  too  well  known  to  be  men- 
tioned, persuade  us  that  the  solemn  con- 
clusion of  thy  Uucoonites  above  set  forth 
was  not  erroneous."- 

As  to  the  dwindlin;^  of  the  streams  in 
New  .Sweden,  our  philosopher  has  left 
us  some  very  curious  and  very  positive 
information.  Kinj^,  one  of  the  old  .Swedes 
of  the  council,  was  well  convinced  that 
the  little  lakes,  brooks,  sprin^^s  and 
rivers  had  much  less  water  than  when 
he  was  a  boy.  lie  could  mention  several 
lakes  on  which  in  his  youth  the  Swedes 
used  to  sail  in  large  boats  even  in  the 
hottest  summer,  which  had  since  entire- 
ly dried  up.  Aoke  Helm  knew  several 
places  in  the  Delaware,  where  the 
Swedes  used  to  go  in  boats  in  his  boy- 
hood, which  had  since  been  changed 
into  islands.  Peter  Rambo  conceded 
that  many  lakes  had  been  dried  up;  but 
he  thought  there  was  still  as  much  water 
in  the  rivers  as  there  had  ever  been.f 

The  same  Maons  Keen  above  named, 
and  several  other  old  Swedish  residents, 
told  Kalm  repeatedly  that  wiien  the 
Swedes  made  their  tirst  settlement  at 
Helsingburg,    in    Salem    county,    they 

*  Roprer's  Gcologrical  Survey,  Final  Report,  p. 
277;  and  see  First  Report,  p.  78,  c(  seq.  Sec  also, 
Mease's  Picture,  etc.  p.  16. 

t  There  was  in  the  olden  time  a  lake  about 
half  a  mile  south-east  oftiie  County  Court  House 
in  the  city  of  Camden,  which  was  much  frequented 
by  wild  geese  and  ducks.  Although  the  bed  of 
this  lake  is  now  cultivated,  there  arc  those  who 
remember  when  it  conl;>ined  several  feet  of  water 
throughout  the  year.  It  was  called  Ly  the  Cam- 
den boys  "  the  Play  Pond."  An  old  painting 
made  by  a  Philadelphia  artist  before  the  sur- 
rounding forest  was  felled,  represents  tliis  pond 
as  having  been  quite  picturesque.  The  f;Jl  of 
the  ivaters,  not  only  of  our  inland  ponds,  but  of 
the  creeks  (and  ol  course  of  the  river  with  which 
they  connect)  is  a  well  established  phenomenon, 
A  geological  examination  of  the  high  banks 
which  almost  invariably  distinguish  the  south 
Bides  of  the  creeks  of  West  Jersey  will  siiow  the 
old  water  mark  to  be  some  feet  above  the  present 
river-level.  l]|>on  the  north  ^idns  of  the  creeks 
in  Gloucester  county  the  upland  generally  slopes 
gruduiilly  towards  tjie  stream,  so  that  the  edge  of 
the  reel  nt  metidow  alluvion  can  he  plainly  traced. 
And  this  line,  it  is  believed,  will  always  be  found 
cnnsideriibly  above  the  i>resrnt  high  water  mark 
of  the  Delaware.  See  upon  this  subject  De  War- 
ville's  Travels,  p.  311. 


found  at  the  depth  of  twenty  feet  some 
ancient  wells  inclosed  with  brick  walls. 
These  remains  when  discovered  were 
on  the  fast  last,  but  the  river  had  after- 
wards so  encroached  upon  the  shore  at 
that  place  that  Kalm  could  not  make  an 
examination  of  them  for  himself.  Sub- 
sequently to  this  discovery  the  Swedes 
in  digging  new  wells  at  some  distance 
from  the  former,  found  broken  earthen 
vessels  and  whole  good  bricks.  From 
these  facts  the  learned  Professor  con- 
cluded that  in  very  remote  times  a  com- 
pany of  Europeans  had  been  carried 
hither  by  storm — had  burnt  bricks  and 
made  a  colony — but  afterwards  amalga- 
mated with  the  natives,  or  were  killed 
by  them.  The  Indians  knew  of  these 
wells,  and'their  tradition  gave  them  a 
date  long  before  the  expedition  of  Co- 
lumbus.'••■ 

When  the  Swedes  arrived  upon  the 
Delaware  they  found  the  surlace  of  the 
country  covered  with  all  sorts  of  marine 
shells.  Good  grass  came  everywhere 
in  great  abundance,  and  grew  to  the 
height  of  a  man.-f  for  the  soil,  though 
not  so  miraculous  as  Peter  Lindstrom 
would  have  us  believe,  was  upon  the 
top  really  very  rich  from  the  vegetable 
decompositions  of  centuries. J 

The  same  cause  which  has  given  so 
different  an  aspect  to  the  face  of  our 
coimtry,  has  also  wrought  a  very  percep- 
tible change  in  the  climate.  This  effect 
becoming  in  turn  a  cause,  will  produce 
other  changes  in  the  vegetable  jirodiic- 
tions  of  the  soil,  at  which  future  natural- 
ists will  doubtless  be  amazed.  So  severe 
was  the  winter  of  1697-S,  that  Nils 
Gustafson  brought  many  wagon  loads  of 
hay  across  the  river  on  the  ice  from 
Wilmington,  and  horses  and  sledges 
crossed  even  much  lower  down,  Isaac 
Norris,  of  Philadelphia,  told  Kalm  that 
in  his  father's  days  the  Delaware  was 

*  Kalm's  Travel's,  Vol.  II,  p.  .SI. 

t  Id.  pp.  110,  129;  and  Campanius,  p*  163. 

1  Campanius,  p.  1(53, cites  Lindstrom  as  saying 
that  ''in  New  .Sweden  the  soil  lias  this  peculiar 
properly,  that  one  may  sow  rye  in  it  and  reap 
wheat."  liut  the  French  MS.  copy  of  Lind- 
Btrom's  work  contains,  we  believe,  no  such  false- 
hood. 


TOPeORAPHT  OF  THE  DBLAVfAItfi. 


85 


generally  frozen  over  from  the  middle 
of  November  until  the  beginning  of 
March,  old  style.  The  snow  and  rain 
fell  in  greater  quantities,  and  the  winters 
were  much  more  uniform  in  former  years 
than  when  Kalm  was  at  Racoon.  Most 
of  the  ancient  people  agreed  however 
in  telling  him  that  the  spring  came  later 
then  than  in  the  olden  time.  The  Swedes 
used  to  have  a  proverb,  Pask  bitida, 
Pask  sent,  altid  gras — that  is.  Come 
Easter  soon  or  late,  we  always  then 
have  grass.  But  this,  as  Kalm  suggests, 
proves  rather  the  extirpation  of  certain 
oarly  grasses  than  a  retrograde  of  the 
climate.  The  want  of  constancy  which 
began  to  be  observed  in  the  weather 
after  the  Europeans  had  been  here  for 
some  time  was  the  reason,  our  Professor 
thought,  why  the  people  had  become  so 
much  less  robust  and  healthy  than  their 
ancestors.  If  so,  we  trust  that  when 
the  heat  from  millions  of  hearths  and  the 
felling  of  the  immense  forests  to  the 
westward  and  northward  shall  have 
given  to  the  climate  of  West  Jersey  the 
mildness  and  uniformity  of  that  of  cen- 
tral Spain,  we  shall  begin  to  have  less 
occasion  for  doctors. 

Among  the  animals  which  msed  to  in- 
habit this  region,  but  which  like  the  In- 
dians, have  fled  at  the  approach  of  civili- 
zation, are  Buffalos,  Wolves,  Panthers, 
Bears,  Otters  and  Beavers^*^  A  Wolf- 
bounty  was  set  up  by  the  county  of 
Gloucester  in  1686;  and  the  colonial 
statute  7  Annae  Begin,  cap.  XV, f  ap- 
plying to  the  whole  province,  gave  a 
premium  of  fifteen  shillings  to  every 
white  man  who  killed  a  wolf  or  panther, 
and  eight  shillings  to  every  Indian  ;  and 
half  these  sums  respectively  for  every 
wolf  or  panther  whelp.     The  same  law 

*  Plantngcnet,  p.  19,  and  Vanderdonck,  ut. 
sup.  p.  166,  mention  Buffalos  and  Beavers  among 
the  animals  of  this  part  of  America,  though  the 
latter  says  the  Butfalos  "keep  towards  tlio  south- 
west, where  few  people  go."  The  same  writer 
says  the  Indians  of  the  New  Netherlands  some- 
times brouglit  Lion-skins  to  the  Christians  for 
sale;  but  his  Lions  were  doulilless  Cougars  or 
Painters.     See  Thomas,  West  Jersey,  p.  23. 

+  Ante.  p.  44.  And  see  the  Anonymous  Com- 
pilation of  New  Jersey  Laws  from  the  Surrender, 
etc,  1752,  p,  13. 


gave  a  bounty  of  three  pence  for  every 
Crow,  Hawk  and  Woodpecker, and  three 
pence  a  dozen  for  Blackbirds,  or  as  the 
Swedes  called  them,  Maizethieves.  But 
for  the  speedy  repeal  of  these  bounties, 
tiiose  birds  would  no  doubt  have  been 
as  thoroughly  banished  from  New  Jersey, 
as  they  were  by  the  same  means  from 
New  England.^'' 

That  Delaware  Bay  and  the  coast  of 
New  Jersey  once  abounded  with  Whales, 
appears  from  indubitable  authority.  Van- 
derdonck  says  they  were  in  his  time 
frequently  stranded  and  cut  up  by  the 
Dutch,  though  that  people  had  then  no 
regular  whale  fishery.|  Lambrechtsen 
says,  the  seas  adjoining  the  New  Neth- 
erlands  were  once  "rich  in  cod-fish, 
tunnys  and  whales, -"J  and  Pierre  du 
Cimitiere  in  his  valuable  MSS.  mentions 
that  a  large  whale  once  came  up  nearly 
to  Philadelphia.  The  Cape  May  men, 
according  to  quaint  old  Gabrial  Thomas, 
made  in  ancient  times,  "prodigious  nay 
vast  quantities  every  year,"  of  oil  and 
whalebone;  "  having  mightily  advanced 
that  great  fishery,  and  taking  great 
numbers  of  whales. "|1 

But  "  hereof"  as  our  master  Coke 
was  wont  to  say,  "this  taste  must  suf- 
fice." The  student  who  wishes  to  go 
to  the  bottom  of  the  natural  history  of 
the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  must  read 
at  large  not  only  the  books  to  which  we 
have  referred  him,  but  many  other  pon- 
derous tomes  written  in  no  less  than  five 
languages. 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

OF  JACQUE's  island,  AND  OTIIEll  CURIOUS 
PARTICULARS  IN  THE  TOPOGRAPHY  OF 
THE  RIVER  DELAWARE  IN  FRONT  OF  OLD 
GLOUCESTER. 

It  seems  to  be  pretty  clear  that  the 

»  Kalm,  on  the  authority  of  Dr.  Franklin,  Vol. 
II,  p.  78. 

t  Page  176.  The  colony  at  Fort  Nassau  un- 
der Do  Vries,  as  we  liave  seen,  had  prepared 
themselves  for  the  whale  and  seal  fisheries.  Ante 
p.  3. 

t  New  York  Hist.  Coll.,  new  scrips,  Vol.  I.  p.  88 

II  West  Jersey,  p.  23:  and  see  Extracts  from 
Thomas  Learning's  MSS.  in  New  Jersey  Hist. 
Coll.  p.  124. 


^ 


T0P0«RAPnT    OF   THE    DELAWARE. 


land  upon  which  Camden  is  built  was 
once  an  island.  De  Vries  and  the  early 
Dutch  at  all  events  took  it  tor  such,  and 
j^ave  it  the  name  of  Jacques  Eylandt, 
which  the  circumspect  Du  Cimitiere 
adopted  in  his  improved  map  of  the 
Delaware."  It  is  evident,  too,  as  well 
from  Lindstrom's  chart  entitled  Aoya 
Suecia  hodie  dicta  Pennsylvania,  as  I'rom 
his  written  description  of  the  topography 
of  the  river  shore  at  and  above  Glouces- 
ter Point,  that  he  and  the  Swedes  con- 
sidered the  land  between  Newton  and 
Cooper's  Creeks  to  have  been  insulated 
by  a  connection  between  those  two 
streams.  The  island  thus  formed — which 
was  by  much  the  larj^est  of  any  in  the 
Delaware — was  called  by  the  Swedes 
after  the  Indian  name,  Ac|uikanasra.t 

The  veracity  of  these  old  geographers 
may  be  doubted  by  some,  but  to  us  their 
statements  contain  nothing-  that  seems 
improbable.  Indeed,  the  land  which 
they  called  Jacques  Eylandt  is  even  now 
a  peninsula,  and  we  do  not  know  but 
that  if  the  dams  and  dykes  on  Cooper's 
and  Newton  Creeks  were  removed,  so 

•  See  De  Vries  Journal,  ut  sape  ante,  p.  254, 
and  Barker's  Sketches,  p.  53.  Du  Siniitre's  map, 
wliicli  Barker  refers  lo,  is  not  now  to  be  found. 

t  Up  in  Lindstrom's  map  tiie  Delaware  is  re- 
presented as  dividing  just  above  Gluucestcr  into 
two  branches,  and  the  more  eastern  branch  after 
lUiikmg  an  ahnost  semicircular  curve  into  the 
country  and  rcceivin^r  in  its  course  the  Quinkor- 
cnniiiif  or  Newloei  Oeck  and  the  Hiorte  Kilcm  or 
Cooixjr's  Creek, rrjoins  the  western  channel, nearly 
opposite  the  place  on  the  Pennsylvania  shore 
■narked  Fuckeiiliind.  The  following  extract  from 
Lindstrom's  Description,  in  the  Library  of  the 
Am.  Phil.  Soc,  No.  17.3,  affords  no  inconsiderable 
jjupport  to  our  view  of  what  he  meant  to  represent 
upon  his  map:  "  Dcs  Tekoke  [Timber  Creek]  a 
Qoinkoring  [the  Quinkoretniing  or  Newton 
CrKck]  il  V  a  un  grand  cap;  ma  is  ie  pays  est  plain 
et  ras.  Lcs  longues  basses  d'une  ile  situec  au 
millieu  de  la  riviere  et  converte  de  RytHachts 
{wl)ich  the  translator  explains  by  '  plain  ou  cam- 
pagne  des  roseaux'j  cmpcchent  lcs  vaisseaux  d' 
approcher."  This  rosc-covcrcd  island  could  have 
bncn  no  other  the  fast  land  in  Newton  and  Cam- 
den  townships,  and  tiic  long  flats — "  longues 
bisnes" — which  prevented  the  approach  ofvesscls 
110  other  than  the  present  Windniill  Lsland  and 
hars,  which  as  we  shall  preasantly  sec,  were  once 
ticrd  to  the  Jersey  shore  at  ('oopcr'i«  Point,  and 
«xUndcd  much  further  down  the  river  than  they 
4o  nnw. 


that   the  water  mif^ht  rise   upon   the'u 
meadows  and  adjacent  lowlands  to  the 
river  level,  the  connection  would  be  yet 
restored.     For,  as  many  of  our  readers 
know,    the    north    branch    of    Newton 
Creek   heads    within   a   few    yards   of 
Cooper's  Creek,  while  the  strip  of  in- 
tervening land,  (although  constantly  fill- 
ing  up   in   dry  windy  weather)  is  yet 
quite  low,  some  feet,  perhaps,  below  the 
high-watermark  in  the  Delaware.  What 
is  there,  then,  to  forbid  the  supposition, 
that  while  all  streams  contintied  to  be, 
as  we  have  seen  they  once  were,  much 
fuller  than  now,  there  was  a  connection 
between  these  two  creeks  at  this  point? 
We  could  much  sooner  believe  that  the 
Graef  Ernest  River,  as  the  Dutch  called 
this  now  partially  dry  channel,  was  once 
the  passagre  for  a  very  heavy  body  of 
water,  than  that   Dutch,  Swedish  and 
English  ^geographers  should  have  united 
in  mistaking  a  peninsula  for  an  island. ^'^ 
But   there   are    otlier   arguments   in 
favor   of   the   existence   of   the    Graef 
Ernest  passage,  which  it  may  be  inter- 
esting: to  a  portion  of  our  readers   at 
least,  to  advert  to.     Thus  we  know  that 
Windmill  Island  was  once  attached  to 
the  Jersey  shore  at  Cooper's  Point,  and 
used  to  be  bared  at  low  water,  so  that 
persons  could — and  probably  often  did 
— carry  their  grists  on  foot  from  Jersey 
to  be  groiuid  at   John  Harding's  wind- 
mill, which  stood  on  the  island  opposite 
the  end  of  Chestnut  street.     We  have  a 
copy  of  a  letter  before  us  from  William 
Brown  to  Thomas  Penn,  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Richard  Peters,  then  Secre- 
tary to   the   Honorable   Proprietors   of 
Pennsylvania,  dated  October  twentieth, 
1761,  in  which  Brown  by  way  of  crying 
down  the  island,  so  that  he  could  btiy  it 
upon  better  terms,  says:     "I  am  now 
willing  to  offer  two   liundred  and  fifty 
pounds  for  the  whole  rather  than  take 
the  proposed  lease  of  one  half  for  ninety- 

*  Vanderdonck,  in  his  map,  represents  tho 
Timmerkill  and  Newton  Creek  as  falling  near 
together  into  a  bay  or  cove  which  runs  up  into 
the  county;  but  he  does  not  mark  Jacque's  Ey- 
landt, nor  any  other  island  in  the  whole  river, 
Oeilby's  map  agrees  with  Vnnderdonck'a  in  thia, 
iin  ill  most  olhfT  point*. 


ToroQRArnT  of  the  Delaware. 


67 


'  ine  years,  paying  the  acknowledfrrnent 
i    one  sliillinjj^  stcrlinji-  per  year;  the' 
ohn  Kinsey  in  his  lite  time  advised  nie 
)  ^et  a  Jersey  ri<;ht  lor  it — as  there  had 
een  j^reat  slrile  witii  the  Jersey  people 
bout  the  ^rass,  tho'  they  tell  me  where 
.le   f^russ   grew   then    it's    s^one,    and 
athered  in  this  place,  and  as  that  was 
ot  called  an  island  when  our  worthy 
roprietor   bought    the    islands   in    the 
.ver  with  the  lower  counties — which  I 
ccordingly  did;    and   as  a  Jerseyman 
iforni'd  me,  he  could  or  did  when  a 
oy,  wade  all  the  way  from  Cooper's 
^oint  to  it,  and  now  it's  very  shoal  and 
tony  all   the  way  over,   so    that   they 
laini'd  the  right  to  it,  'til  1  boujrht  it  of 
ii.  Jersey  proprietor;  nevertheless  as  our 
proprietors  claim  it,  I  am  willing  to  pay 
lor  it,  if  I  can  have  the  whole  for  what  I 
dare  venture  to  give."    There  are  those 
yet  alive  who  remember  when  the  re- 
mains of  trees  were  standing  for  some 
distance  out  in  the  river  below  Cooper's 
Point,  which  seems  to  show  that  Brown's 
statement  is  by  no  means  extravagant. 
Indeed  we  think  it  by  no  means  improba- 
ble   that  where   the   channel  now  runs 
between   Camden  and  the  island,  was 
once  a  marsh  which  the  tide  sometimes 
left  partially  if  not  entirely  bare.     But 
whether  this  have  been  so  or  not,  it  is 
evident  that  as  long  as  the  eastern  chan- 
nel was  so  shoal  as  to  be  fordable,  the 
vast  volume  of  water  ebbing  from  above 
must   have    passed   between    Windmill 
Island  and  the  Pennsylvania  shore.  The 
effect  of  such  an  abrupt   narrowing  of 
the  river  channel  inmiediately  below  the 
mouth  gf  Cooper's  Creek,  must  manifest- 
ly have  contributed  greatly  to  force  that 
stream   to    seek,   for   a   portion   of   its 
waters,  a  more    direct  and  more  easy 
outlet  by  way  of  the  Graef  Ernest.     We 
do  not  claim  that  this  outlet  was  ever 
very  deep;  but  if  we  can  show  that  even 
one  drop  of  water  from  Cooper's  Creek 
ever  found  its  way  into  the  Delaware  by 
the  mouth  of  Newton  Creek,  then  we 
shall  have  succeeded  in  proving  the  ex- 
istence of  the  Island  of  Roses,  and  in 
vindicating  the  venerable  Lindstrom  from 
the  doubts  and  sneers  of  the  ignorant. 
With  reference  to  Patty's  Island,  to 


which  (since  Jacques  Eylandt  no  longer 
exists,)  the  name  of  Aquikanasra  seems 
legitimately  to  survive,  we  meet  with 
nothing  in  the  ancient  geographers  of 
the  Delaware  worth  noting.  It  {)roba- 
bly  had  no  rose-fields  to  attract  the  ad- 
miration of  Lindstrom,  and  in  resj)ect 
to  size  it  was  insignilicant  along  side  of 
the  Island  of  Jacques.  Its  modern  his- 
tory can  be  soon  told  ;  It  took  its  name 
from  a  gentleman  who  located  it  under 
a  patent  from  Pennsylvania,  to  which 
Slate  it  originally  belonged,  by  the  rule 
of  the  common  law — it  being  west  of  the 
ftluni  medium  aquce.  Windmill  Island 
by  the  same  rule  l)elonged  clearly  to 
Jersey,  but  for  some  reason  which  does 
not  appear,  the  Convention  between 
New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania, concluded 
on  the  twenty-sixth  of  April,  1783,  trans- 
ferred Potty's  Island  (or  Potty's  Islands, 
as  the  old  laws  usually  call  it,)  to  New 
Jersey,  and  Windmill  Island  to  Pennsyl- 
vania. The  former  was  immediately 
annexed,  contrary  to  the  general  rule  of 
proximity,  to  Newton  township. ■"■  When 
Camden  township  was  erected,  bj'  some 
stupid  oversight  Pelty's  Island  was  for- 
gotten and  left  out  of  the  bill. 

Upon  the  east  side  of  this  island  near 
its  southern  end,  lie  the  remains  of  Paul 
Jones'  famous  ship,  the  Alliance.  This 
vessel  was  built  at  Salisbury,  Massachu- 
setts, and  was  launched  just  after  our 
treat}'  of  amity  with  France,  in  honor  of 
which  event  she  received  her  nairit>.. 
She  bore  the  terrible  Hag  of  .Jones  ii> 
several  engagements,  among  which  that 
off"  Scarborough  Head,  England,  was  of 
itself  enough  to  immortalize  her.t  After 
the  war  she  made  one  voyage  we  believe, 
as  a  merchantman,  and  was  ibe-ft  laid  up, 
where  relicpie  seeking  posterity  could 
readily  chip  her  to  pieces.  "'Nor,"  ex- 
claims the  patriotic  McClure.  "  shall  she 
lie  forgotten  while  the  victories  won  are 
worth  the  recolk;ction,  or  this  pen  livea 
to  record  her  memory. ":|: 

*  Rev.  Laws,  p.  58.. 

t  Cooper's  Naval  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  150,  and 
18.9  et  seq. 

t  Sec  iWcCInre's  Siirvpy  of  thp  Delnwarc  bc» 
Iwcen  Chester  and  Richmond,  etc.,  p.  33. 


TOPOORAPHT   OF  THE   BBLAWAR&. 


Windmill  Island  contained  a  few  years 
ago  a  memento  almost  as  valuable  as  the 
wreck  of  the  Alliance — we  mean  the 
hulk  of  the  vessel  which  in  1815  brought 
out  the  glad  tidings  of  the  treaty  of 
Ghent.  Being  old  and  unfit  for  liirther 
service,  she  was  purchased  by  the  Smith 
family  who  liad  located  the  north  part  of 
the  island,  and  having  been  hauled  out 
opposite  ihe  foot  of  Chestnut  street,  was 
converted  into  a  pleasure  house.  When 
the  workmen  were  digging  the  canal  a 
litUe  south  of  the  site  of  this  Old  Mes- 
senger of  Peace,  one  of  them  found  at 
a  considerable  distance  below  the  sur- 
face, a  brass  button,  having  upon  it  the 
figure  of  a  pijj-,  and  the  inscription  "No 
tithes."  This  seems  to  show  the  truth 
of  Hrown's  complaint  in  the  letter  above 
cited,  that  "this  mud  barr  is  continually 
shifting  and  changing  in  one  part  or 
other."  Since  the  button  in  question 
dropped  from  its  owner's  coat,  the  allu- 
vion had  increased  there  four  or  five 
feet.  U].on  Hill's  map,  made  in  1809,  it 
appears  that  between  Vine  street  and 
the  Navy  Yard  there  were  seven  inde- 
pendent bars  or  islands,  separated  by 
passages,  one  of  which,  the  remains 
whereof  are  yet  visible  opposite  Spruce 
street,  contained  lor  many  years,  it  is 
said,  three  fathoms  water  at  low-tide.. 
Mr.  McClure  has  mentioned  instances 
in  which  these  channels  have  moved  a 
considerable  distance  or  altogether  van- 
ished in  the  course  of  a  day.^"'  There 
seems  to  be  now  a  uniform  decrease  of 
the  fast  land  of  this  island  at  the  south 
and  an   increase  to  the  northward. f 

•  Survey  of  the  Delaware  from  Chester,  etc., 
p.  3A. 

f  In  a  map  made  in  1777  by  Mr.  Scull,  then 
Surveyor  of  Philadelphia,  ihe  VViiidniill  bar  is  re- 
presenleil  as  joining  the  Jersey  shore  at  the  point 
jiisl  above  Cooper's  Ferry.  The  fust  land  of  ihis 
ishmd,  il  is  well  known,  used  to  run  some  distance 
below  the  Swedes'  Church,  ;ind  'it  was  upon  its 
bar,  opposite  the  present  Nnvy  Yard,  that  the 
American  (rivalc  Delaware  was  (rrounded  on  the 
Hcventpenth  of  November,  1777,  and  taken  by 
the  flrilish.  All  the  gallics  and  gun  boats 
which  had  cooperated  wi(h  Smith  and  Greene,  at 
Fort  Mifflin  and  Red  Bank,  pawed  up  the  Jersey 
channel  on  the  night  of  the  sixteenth,  and  got 
safely  to    Bordentown.     Barney  •  Memoircs,  p. 


Further  down  the  river  many  changes 
have  taken  place  within  the  last  half 
century.  Thus  Gibbet  Island,  which 
once  lay  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
Schuylkill,  has  been — like  some  of  Pat- 
ty's Islands — entirely  swept  away;  and 
its  fragments  now  form  a  considerable 
flat,  some  distance  below  where  the 
island  itself  was  located.  Bush  Island 
opposite  Red  Bank,  has  also  disap- 
peared, and  the  ground  upon  which  it 
stood  is  now  an  irregular  bar.  Upon 
the  other  hand,  there  are  now  great 
shoals  and  banks  where  there  used  to 
be  a  good  depth  of  water;  thus  after  the 
sinknig  of  Davis'  Pier  or  Fort  Gaines, 
opposite  Fort  Mifflin,  during  the  Revolu- 
tion, a  bar  speedily  formed  below  it, 
more  than  a  mile  in  length,  and  to  the 
great  injury  of  navigation.  Between 
Tinnicum  Island  and  the  Jersey  shore  a 
small  shoal  was  formed  around  a  sunken 
pilot  boat ;  and  a  much  larger  one  gath- 
ered about  the  British  frigate  Augusta, 
in  a  few  years  after  her  loss.  In  1812 
liittie  League  Island,  north  of  League 
Island  proper,  emerged  from  the  river, 
and  continued  for  some  time  indepen- 
dent; but  the  alluvion  has  now  united 
the  two  together.  At  the  upper  end  of 
Hog  Island,  the  alluvion  accumulated  so 
fast,  that  about  1820  the  proprietors  en- 
closed fifty  acres  of  land  over  which 
large  sloops  used  to  sail  a  few  years  be- 
fore. Between  this  Island  and  the 
Pennsylvania  shore  there  was  in  the 
Revolution,  a  channel  so  deep  that  a 
large  British  frigate  ascended  it  to  at- 
tack Fort  Mifflin  in  the  rear;  but  by  1820 
it  had  so  filled  up  that  deserters  from 
that  post  could  ford  it  and  thus  get  away. 
Many  other  such  changes  as  these  are 
mentioned  in  David  McClure's  pamphlet 
and  in  Hill's  Circular  Map. 


61.  Opposite  the  Swedes'  Church  at  Wicncoa 
there  is  a  rock  famous  for  perch  fishing.  It  was 
here  that  the  frigate  Philadelphia  struck  and  filled 
some  time  before  her  fatal  cruise  to  the  Medi- 
terranean. In  the  olden  time  Windmill  Island 
was  used  as  a.  gibbctting  place  for  pirates.  Early 
in  the  present  century  three  mutineers  who  hud 
killed  a  part  of  a  crew,  but  were  captured  through 
the  instrumentality  ot  a  large  i^og,  were  hung  op- 
posite Pile  Street. 


FORMER   NAMES   Off  PLACES. 


99 


The  wrecks  of  the  frigate  Merlin  and 
of  the  Augusta,  sixty-four,  lie  near  the 
mouth  of  Mantua  Creek — the  former  just 
below  the  creek  and  quite  near  the  shore. 
These  vessels  were  part  of  the  British 
fleet  with  which  the  American  gallies 
under  Hazelwood,  had  so  warm  and 
glorious  an  engagement  on  the  morning 
of  the  twenty-third  of  October,  1777. 
The  Merlin  having  run  aground  in  escap- 
ing from  the  gallies,  was  burnt  by  her 
crew,  and  the  Augusta  took  fire  by 
accident  and  blew  up.  As  this  hap- 
pened on  the  day  after  the  battle  of 
Red  Bank,  "old  Mitch's"  veracity  may 
well  be  questioned.""' 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  INDIAN,  DUTCH,  SWEDISH  AND  OLD 
ENGLISH  NAMES  OF  THE  CREEKS,  AND 
PROMINENT  POINTS  ALONG  THE  DELA- 
WARE. 

It  is  important,  in  order  to  avoid  con- 
fusion, in  reading  the  ancient  historians 
and  geographers  of  the  Delaware,  to 
remember  that  many  localities  have  four 
or  five  different  names,  owing  to  the 
petty  jealousy  and  bad  taste  of  the 
Putch,  Swedes  and  English,  each  of 
which  people  insisted  upon  displacing 
the  euphonious  titles  of  the  Indians  and 
applying  its  own  new-fangled  designa- 
tions. 

Oldmam's  Creek,  the  south  bound  of 
Gloucester  county,  was  called  by  the 
Indians  Kag ■  Kiksizachen s -sippus — sip • 
pus  being  in  the  Delaware  language  the 
word  for  river  or  creek.  I'he  Dutch 
^nd  Swedes  called  it  Alderman' s-k'den ; 
kil  in  Dutch  and  kilen  in  Swedish  mean- 
ing the  same  as  sippus.  The  early 
English  settlers  named  it  Berkley  River 
in  honor  of  the  Proprietor  Lord  Berkley, 
but  it  is  often  spelled  in  old  laws.  Bark- 
ley.  Finally  the  present  name  came  in 
vogue,  it  being  a  translation  of  the  Dutch 
name.  Alderman's  Kilen. 

The  Racoon  takes  its  title  from  the 
powerful    tribe    of   Naraticon    Indians 

*  Hazlcwond's  Letter   to  Washington,  Penn. 
Reg.  Vol.  Ill,  p.  181.    Ante,  p.  70. 
N 


who  once  resided  there — naraticon  being 
the  Indian  name,  it  seems,  for  the  now 
canonized  animal,  the  racoon,  which 
Kalm  tells  us  formerly  abounded  in  great 
numbers  in  that  part  of  the  country.  The 
Indian  name  for  this  creek  was  Nara- 
ticons-sippus  or  Memirako,  which  neith- 
er the  Dutch  nor  Swedes  seem  to  have 
altered. 

The  Repaupo,  according  to  Lind- 
stroms'  map,  was  called  by  the  aborigines 
Wivenski  Sackoey -sippus,  and  probably 
took  its  present  title  from  the  Swedish 
town  of  Repaapo. 

Great  and  Little  Mantua  Creeks  are 
named,  Smith  tells  us,  from  the  native 
word  mania,  which  signifies  a  frog.* 
The  Indian  tribe  which  resided  here,  and 
which  had  a  branch  about  Burlington,  is 
often  mentioned  in  old  writers:  De  Vries 
calls  them  "  Indians  of  the  Roodehoek 
or  Mantes,"  De  Laet  the  Mantaesy, 
and  Plantagenet  the  Manteses.  They 
were  a  bloody  people,  and  had  doubtless 
had  a  hand  in  the  Graef  Ernest  tragedy, 
inasmuch  as  De  Vries  tells  us  that  some 
of  them  boarded  his  yacht  in  the  Tinimer- 
kill,  with  the  very  jackets  on,  which  the 
murdered  Virginians  had  worn.  The 
Swedish  name  for  Great  Mantua  Creek 
was  Makles-kylen.  The  Roodehoek 
mentioned  by  De  Vries  was  Billings- 
port;  hoek  being  the  Dutch  for  point  or 
hook.  The  Swedes  called  this  place 
Roder-udden,  the  latter  word  bearing  the 
same  signification  in  Swedeish  as  hoek 
in  the  Dutch. 

The  original  name  of  Woodbury 
Creek  was  Piscozackasing„  upon  which 
neither  the  Dutch  nor  Swedes  attempted 
any  other  improvement  than  the  custo- 
mary addition  of  kyt.  It  received  its 
present  English  title  from  the  town  of 
Woodbury. 

Timber  Creek,  as  we  have  before 
seen,  was  called  indiscriminately,  by  the 
Dutch  and  Swedes,  Tetamekanchz-kil, 
Anoames,  Tchoke  a.nd  Sassackon, though 
in  strictness,  each  of  those  Indians  names 
applied  to  a  particular  branch.f  The 
names  Gloucester  River  and  Bi^  and 
Little   Timber  Creek  came  in  use  very 

*  Hist.  N.  J„p.l3G.  tAnte,  p.  61. 


00 


TUB  POLITICIANS  AND  SOLDIERS  OF  OLD  OLOUCESTER. 


Boon  after  the  permanent  settlement  of 
the  English.  Gloucester  Point  was 
called  originally  Tekaacho  or  Herma- 
omissing,  and  was  justly  considered 
when  the  creeks  above  and  below  it 
were  open,  "un  grand  cap."  Howell's 
Cove,  below  Timber  Creek,  was  called 
by  the  first  English,  Cork  Cove,  and 
afterwards  Ladde's  Cove. 

The  Indian  name  of  Newton  Crefk 
was  Quinquorennins; ;  but  the  Dutch 
called  so  much  of  it,  and  of  Cooper's 
Creek,  as  was  regarded  as  forming  the 
east  channel  around  Jacques  Island,  the 
Graef  Ernest,  or  Count  Ernest  River,  in 
honor  of  a  celebrated  German  prince  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  The  point 
north  of  Newton  Creek  is  called  in  Hill's 
Map,  Walnut  Point. 

Cooper's  Creek  was  perhaps  called 
by  the  Indians  Asoroches  or  Jlsomoc/ies. 
The  Dutch  named  it  the  Timmer-kill; 
and  the  Swedes  the  Hiorte-kilen,  from 
harto,  the  Indian  name  for  deer.  In 
the  French  copy  of  Lindstrom's  Map,  it 
is  called  Riviere  des  cerfs,  that  is  Deer 
River,  by  which  name  it  is  also  once  or 
twice  spoken  of  by  Campanius.  After 
the  settlement  of  William  Cooper  at 
Pyne  Point,  now  Cooper's  Point,  the 
neighboring  stream  took  his  name. 

The  Penshaukin  is  probably  the  Wa- 
rentapecka  of  the  Indians;  for  Campanius 
after  speaking  of  the  Rankoques,  men- 
tions Warantapecka  as  lying  "  more  to 
the  south."  De  Laet  speaks  of  visiting 
a  fine  creek,  upwards  of  a  Dutch  mile 
above  Jacques  Eylandt,  the  country  upon 
which  was  "  fine  and  covered  with  an 
abundant  growth  of  vines,"  and  he 
named  it  therefore,  lVyns;afrVs  kill,  or 
Vine  Creek.  This  we  think  was  the 
same  as  the  Warentapecka.  Upon  Van- 
derdonck's  map  there  is  an  Indian  town 
on  the  north  bank  of  this  stream,  called 
Mispennick,  and  the  stream  itself,  or  the 
point  at  its  mouth,  is  marked  Pna/ineus 
hoek.  When  William  Penn  arrived, 
this  name  was  most  likely  corrupted  out 
of  compliment  to  hiin,  into  Fent'Oakcn. 
It  was  also  called  by  (ho  early  English, 
CrapwtU  or  Cropwell  River. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  observe  that 
wainecr  or  inex  seems  to  have  been  the 


patrial,  and  ong,  onck  or  karonck  the 
usual  fn6?m«ry  affix  of  the  Indian  lan- 
guage. Thus  upon  Vanderdonck's  map 
the  country  between  the  Timmerkill  and 
Pruymenhock  is  called  Ermomecc,  the 
the  king  of  which,  twenty  years  before 
Vanderdonck's  time,  was  also  called  by 
Plantagenet,  Eriwomeck  or  Eriiconeck. 
In  the  same  map  an  Indian  town  upon 
the  south  side  of  Timber  Creek,  a  little 
way  south-east  of  t'  Fort  Nassou  is 
marked  Jirme  IVamcx — the  last  two  syl- 
lables evidently  forming  an  independent 
word.  The  tribe  inhabiting  Ermomea? 
was  called,  according  to  Vanderdonck, 
the  Ama-  Caronck,  or  in  De  Laet's  La- 
tin, Amo-Karoaongy ,  and  the  Cooper's 
Creek  tribe,  called  by  De  Laet  the 
Mosroahkon gy  is  named  by  Vander- 
donck the  Mcrdoam-Kcironck. 

About  the  Delaware,  almost  all  the 
Indian  names — the  euphony  of  which 
Penn  so  much  admired — have  been  abol- 
ished, or  improved,  as  the  spirit  of  the 
age  will  have  it,  by  gross  corruptions. 
But  several  branches  of  the  Mullica  and 
the  Great  Eggharbor  yet.retain  their  pri- 
mitive titles.  The  significance  of  these 
names  iS|Jost,  but  their  fine  sound  yet 
remiiins  to  plead  against  the  vandalism 
of  those  who  would  destroy  them. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

the    POLITICIANS    AND    SOLDIERS   OF   OLD 
GLOUCESTER. 

What  con«tiliites  a  Slatfi  ? 
Not  high  raised  hattlcme ills  or  lahoiireil  mound 

Thick  walls,  or  iiioatcH  cal< — 
Not  cities  proud  with  spires  and  turrets  crownM, 

*  No— m«n,  high  iiiimlcd  MEM.     *     *     * 

Men  who  their  duties  know, 

But  know  their  rights,  and  kDowini;  dare  mninlain', 
PreTent  the  h)ni;  aim'd  hlow. 

And  crush  the  tyrant  while  they  rend  the  chain: 
Tliejc  constitutes  a  State. 

Sir  William  Jomes,  from  Alcaut. 

We  have  had  occasion  to  mention  in 
the  precedinu'  pages,  several  incidents 
which  illustrate  the  sturdy  attachment^ 
of  the  first  Eiijjiish  settlers  in  West* 
Jersey,  to  those  just  and  liberal  princi- 
ples which  caused  their  exile  from  the 
mother  couiitiy.  The  political  history 
of  those  settlers  and  their  immediate 
descendants  is  a  subject  of  which  the 


THB  POLITICIANS  AND  8GLWER8  OF  OLD  GLOUCESTER. 


91 


ablest  pen  might  not  be  ashamed.  The 
material  is  abundant  and  rich,  and  forms 
a  mine  which  should  long  ago  have  been 
appropriated  by  a  Griflith  or  an  Evving. 

When  this  neglected  field  is  explored, 
if  Impartially  be  the  lamp-bearer,  we 
are  sure  that  old  Gloucester  Mill  be 
found  to  have  given  to  the  councils  of 
our  state  and  the  armies  and  navies  of 
our  nation,  men  than  whom  none  better 
understood  the  true  principles  of  liberty, 
or  knowing,  more  bravely  defended 
them.  For  a  long  time  Gloucester  was 
peopled  almost  exclusively  by  Friends  ; 
by  men  who  had  themselves  felt  the 
political  thraldom  of  the  mother  country, 
or  by  those  who  remembered  well  their 
father's  recitals  of  the  wrongs  which 
drove  them  into  the  wilderness.  They 
guarded  therefore  with  a  jealous  eye 
those  admirable  Concessions  upon  which 
the  government  of  West  Jersey  was 
based;  and,  after  the  union  of  the  two 
provinces  in  1702,  watched  with  unceas- 
ing vigilance  every  attempt  made  by  the 
East  Jersey  Calvinists  to  despoil  the  laws 
of  the  colony  of  that  peaceful  and  lenient 
spirit  which  had  preeminently  distin- 
guished the  western  code. 

A  consistent  hatred  of  militia-bills,  and 

.         "all  quality, 
Pride,  pomp  and  circumstance  of  glorious  war," 

formed  a  prominent  trait  in  the  character 
of  the  early  men — and  we  may  add  of 
the  early  women  too — of  Gloucester.  In 
3G95  the  Recorder,  John  Reading,  after- 
wards President  of  the  Council,  having 
so  far  forgotten  his  original  Quakerism 
as  to  accept  a  militay  commission  of 
some  kind  from  the  Governor,  employed 
a  drummer,  who  on  one  occasion  had 
the  audacity  to  visit  the  tavern  kept  by 
Mathew  Medcalfe,  at  Gloucester  town. 
This  worthy  host  not  seeing  the  use  of 
music,  and  not  feeling  disposed  to  tole- 
rate such  vanities  about  his  premises, 
called  his  wife  Dorothy  to  his  assistance 
and  incontinently  broke  the  heads  both 
of  druni  and  drimimer ;  for  which  being 
indicted  he  made  no  defence,  but  prompt- 
ly paid  his  penalty,  content  with  having 
borne  some  testimony  against  the  prac- 
tice of  war.     The  defendant  in  this  in- 


dictment was  for  many  years  one  of  the 
most  prominent  men  in  the  county.""' 

The  representatives  of  Gloucester 
county  in  the  General  Assembly  always 
iirmly  resisted  the  attempts  of  the  East 
Jersey  colonels  and  majors  to  fasten 
upon  the  colony  a  militia  system  in  time 
of  peace.  Prior  to  the  French  war  this 
subject  became  in  New  Jersey  one  of 
such  warm  interest,  that  both  parties 
betook  themselves  to  pampheteering.  In 
one  of  the  works  elicited  in  this  wordy 
contest,  it  is  urged  as  a  potent  reason 
against  the  establishment  of  a  militia 
system,  that  "  six  shillings  of  every 
honest  man's  property  in  the  province 
except  those  above  sixty,  is  subject  year 
ly  to  the  humors  or  prejudices  of  any 
low-lived  pragmatical  fellow  that  can 
get  dubbed  a  sergeant."!  All  the  abuse 
of  the  East  Jersey  champions  failed  to 
drive  the  Friends  from  Gloucester  into 
a  support  of  this  step,  until  the  necessi- 
ties of  the  war  absolutely  required  the 
organization  of  a  military  force. 

But  it  was  not  only  in  questions  of 
conscience  that  the  ancient  men  of  our 
shire  carried  a  stiff  neck.  They  were 
imbued  with  a  county  pride,  which 
brooked  no  insult  and  forgave  no  wrong. 
In  1742,  one  John  Jones,  a  lawyer,  a 
deputy  of  Joseph  Warrell,  Esq.,  the 
Attorney  General,  prosecuted  some  cri- 
minal to  conviction  in  the  Gloucester 
court;  whereupon  he  demanded  his  fees 
of  the  Board  of  Justices  and  Freeholders, 
who  referred  him  to  his  employer,  telling 
him  the  county  had  not  asked  for  his 
services.    Jones  threatened  to  take  out 

*  On  the  second  of  September,  1695,  the  fol. 
lowing  minute  is  made  by  the  Clerk  of  the  County 
Court:  "The  Grand  Jury  return  and  find  a  bill 
against  Matthew  Medcalfe  and  Dorothy,  his  wife, 
for  a  breach  of  the  King's  peace,  and  contemptu- 
ously assaulting  of  a  drummer  under  ye  com- 
mand of  .Tohn  Reading,  and  breaking  of  ye  drum. 
The  said  Mathew  confesseth  ye  miittcr  of  ffact 
both  as  to  himself  and  in  ye  behalf  of  his  wife, 
and  leaves  ye  same  to  ye  consideration  and  mercy 
of  ye  Bench.  The  Bench  after  consideration 
award  the  said  Matthew  to  pay  as  a  fine  ye  sum 
of  twenty  shillings,  with  costs  of  suite." 

+  See  the  pamphlet  entitled  "  Dialogue  between 
two  geniliimen  of  New  York,  relating^  to  the  pub- 
lic fiffairs  of  New  .Jersey,"  p.  5. 


93 


THE  POLITICIANS  AND  SOLDIERS  OF  OLD  GLOUCESTER. 


a  mandamus  to  compel  tliem  to  pay,  at 
which  the  worthy  Freeholders  took  fire, 
and  immediately  charg-ed  the  deputy 
before  the  Assembly  with  trying  to  ex- 
tort money  from  them  against  law.  They 
pressed  their  plaint  with  such  vigor,  that 
Jones  was  forthwith  arrested  by  the 
Speaker's  warrant  and  brought  before 
the  House.  Here  he  humbly  promised 
not  to  do  the  like  again,  and  was  dis- 
missed; but  as  he  had  criminated  the 
King's  Attorney  as  the  instigator  of  his 
offence,  Mr.  Warrell  was  also  arrested. 
His  story  was,  that  what  he  had  done 
was  by  the  importunity  of  Jones;  but 
"  since  he  was  informed  that  it  was  the 
opinion  of  tlie  House  that  such  demands 
were  not  allowable"  he  asked  pardon 
of  the  county  and  colony,  and  was  dis- 
missed from  custody. ■"■  This  case,  which 
was  in  reality  Gloucester  county  versus 
the  crown  of  England — for  the  Attorney 
General  was  a  crown  officer — also  caus- 
ed a  pamphet  war,  which  was  con- 
ducted with  considerable  ability  on  both 
sides.  The  Assembly  was  assailed  for 
its  action  in  the  premises  in  a  pamphet 
entitled  "Extracts  from  the  minutes,  etc., 
to  which  are  added  some  Notes  and 
Observations,"  a  reply  whereto  speedi- 
ly followed  under  the  caption  of  •'  The 
Note  maker  noted  and  the  Observer  ob- 
served upon;  by  a  true  Lover  of  English 
lilxjrty;  1743."  The  first  was  probably 
written  by  Jones  himself,  and  the  other 
by  some  of  old  Gloucester's  indignant 
freeholders.  In  this  little  affair  we  see 
a  strong  tinge  of  the  spirit  which  thirty 
years  afterwards  led  to  the  Revolution ; 
and  we  hazard  but  little  in  saying  that 
the  same  jealousy  of  the  royal  power  in 
all  its  modifications  always  distinguished 
the  ])e()ple  of  Gloucester  county. 

The  first  Lcsjislature  of  independent 
New  Jersey  during  its  session  at  Had- 
donfield,  in  the  month  of  September, 
1777,  found  itself  surrounded  by  true 
friends  of  liberty,  who  gave  all  its  acts 

•  "Extracts  from  the  minutes  and  voles  of  tlie 
House  oT  Assembly  of  the  Colony  of  New  Jersey 
met  in  General  Assembly  at  Burlington,  Ifilh 
October,  1742;  tn  which  arc  added  some  notes 
and  observations."  Printed  fcy  Benjamin  Friinklin, 
1743,  p.  15. 


a  prompt  and  hearty  support.  It  Was 
here,  during  the  darkest  hour  of  the 
Revolution,  that  the  two  Houses  by 
unanimously  expunging  the  word  "colo- 
ny" and  substituting  "state"  in  public 
writs  and  commissions,  wiped  out  the 
last  vestige  of  our  servitude.  It  was  here 
too  that  that  Committee  of  Safety  was 
established,  which  afterwards  proved  of 
such  signal  service.  The  member  of 
Council  for  Gloucester  during  this  ses- 
sion, was  John  Coopkr,  who  attended 
regularly  at  Haddonfield  but  did  not  fol- 
low to  Princeton,  whither  the  Legisla- 
ture adjourned  on  the  twenty-fourth  of 
September.  His  Excellency  William 
Livingston,  and  Messrs.  Sinnickson, 
Cox,  Condict,  Symmes,  Hand,  Scudder 
and  Paterson  were  regular  in  their  at- 
tendance. The  joint-meetings  were  held 
while  the  two  Houses  continued  at  Had- 
donfield, at  Thomas  Smith's,  and  Joint 
Committees  generally  met  at  Hugh 
Creighton's  or  Samuel  Kinnard's."'^ 

The  most  prominent  military  charac- 
ters of  the  county  of  Gloucester  at  the 
commencement  of  the  war  of  the  Revo- 
lution, were  Colonels  Joseph  Ellis,  Jo- 
siah  Ilillman,  Joseph  Hugjj  and  Robert 
Brown;  Major  William  Ellis;  Captains 
Samuel  Hufjg,  John  Stokes  and  John 
Davis.  Col.  Ellis  had  commanded  a 
company  in  Canada  in  the  French  war, 
but  on  the  opening  of  the  issue  between 
the  mother  county  and  her  colonies,  he 
resigned  the  commission  he  held  of  the 
King,  and  was  made  a  colonel  in  the 
Gloucester  militia.  He  was  in  the  battle 
of  Monmouth,  and  several  other  engage- 
ments, in  all  of  which  he  fought  bravely. 
Col.  HiLLMAN  was  esteemed  a  good  of- 
ficer, and  saw  much  hard  service.  Col. 
Hugo  was  appointed  Commissary  of  Pur- 
chans  for  West  Jersey,  at  an  early  stage 
of  the  war,  and  in  that  capacity  did 
much  for  the  cause.  He  was  in  the  bat- 
tles of  Germantown,  Shorthills  and  Mon- 
mouth ;  and  when  the  British  crossed 
fix>m  Philadelphia  to  New  York,  he  was 
detailed  to  drive  away  the  stock  along 
their  line  of  march,  in  performing  which 

*See  Votes  and  Proceedings  of  Council  of  1777, 
p.l01,«t  seq.  Hugh  Crcigliton  was  the  prand-fiitlier 
of  Guv.  SlruUon.    He  kt-pl  a  hotel  in  Huddunfiold. 


THE  P0UTICIAN8  AND  SOLDIERS  OF  OLD  GLOUCESTER. 


93 


duty  he  had  many  narrow  escapes  from 
the  enemy's  li^ht  horse.     Col.  Brown 
lived  at  Swedesboro',  and  his  regiment 
was  chiefly  employed  in  preventing  the 
enemy  from  landing  from  their  ships, 
and  restraining  the  excursions  of  the 
Refugees  from  Billingsport.     Major  El- 
lis was  taken  prisoner  early  in  the  war, 
and  kept  for  a  long  time  upon  Long 
Island.  Captain  Samuel  Hugg  and  Fred- 
erick Frelinghuysen  were  appointed 
by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  to   com- 
mand the  two  first  companies  of  Artillery 
raised  in  New  Jersey,  Hugg  in  the  west- 
ern  and  Frelinghuysen  in  the  eastern 
division.     The  former  soon   raised  his 
company,  and  in  it  were  a  number  of 
young   men   of  fortunes   and   the   first 
families  in  the  state,  the  Westcoats,  El- 
mers, Seeleys  and  others,  men  who  af- 
terwards occupied  distinguished  posts 
in  the  local  and  national  governments. 
This   company  was  at   the   battles   of 
Trenton  and  Princeton.   When  the  Roe- 
buck, forty-four,  was   engaged  in   pro- 
tecting the  operations  against  the  che- 
vaux   de  frize   at  Billingsport,  Hugg's 
artillerists  threw  up  a  small  breast-work 
upon  the  Jersey  shore,  and  fought  her 
during  a  whole  day ;  but  unfortunately 
their  first  sergeant,  William  Ellis,  was 
killed  by  a  cannon  ball  which  took  off 
both  his  legs  above  the  knees.     This 
Ellis  was  an  Englishman,  and  had  been 
for  several  years  a  recruiting  officer  for 
the  British  service,  in  Philadelphia.  He 
joined  the  American  cause  early — like 
his  namesake,  was  a  very  brave  man — 
and  died  much  regretted  by  his  com- 
panions in  arms.  Captain  Stokes,  whose 
prowess   in   the  neighborhood   of    the 
British  camp  at  Camden  we  have  before 
alluded  to,'--  commanded  a  company  of 
mere  boys  made  up  from  some  of  the 
best    families    in    Gloucester     county. 
These   fellows  were   at   the   battle   of 
Monmouth,  but  Col.  Hillman  sent  them 
to  the  rear  to  guard  the  baggage.  Stokes 
was  often  heard  to  say  afterwards,  that 
he  "  never  saw  so  mad  a  set  of  young- 
sters" as  these  were  on  being  assigned 
so  safe  a  post.     They  cried  with  rage 

•  Ante,  p.  57. 


at  being  stationed  there,  after  having 
marched  so  far  to  see  what  fighting 
was.''"  Two,  and  we  believe  only  two, 
of  the  soldiers  whom  Gloucester  gave 
to  the  Revolution,  are  now  residents  of 
this  county,  namely,  Capt.  James  B. 
Cooper,  of  Haddonfield,  and  John 
Mapes,  (or  John  Mapes  "  of  Long 
street,"  as  he  sometimes  writes  himself) 
both  of  whom  were  members  of  Lee's 
Legion.  Cooper  entered  the  army  when 
quite  a  boy,  and  his  name  is  honorably 
mentioned  in  some  of  the  histories  of  the 
time.f  Long,  very  long,  may  it  be,  be- 
fore either  he  or  his  compatriot  will 
want  an  epitaph  ! 

In  our  war  with  Tripoli  and  in  the 
late  war  with  England,  some  of  the  best 
and  bravest   sailors   in  our  navy  were 
sons  of  Gloucester  county.     Who,  that 
is  not  culpably  ignorant  of  the  history  of 
his  country,  has  not  heard  of  the  name 
of  Capt.  PacHARD  SoMERs?  Thischival- 
ric  sailor  was  the  son  of  Col.  Richard 
Somers,  an  officer  of  the   Revolution. 
He  was   born   at   Somers'  Point,  about 
the  year  1778,  was  educated  at  Burling- 
ton, but  took  to  the  sea  when  very  young. 
He  joined  the  American  navy  in  its  in- 
fancy, where   he    soon  became  distin- 
'  guished  by  his  courage,  and  his  thorough 
seamanship.     In    1804   he  was   in   the 
Mediterranean,  captain  of  the  Nautilus, 
under  Commodore  Preble.     The  opera- 
tions of  the  fleet  before  Tripoli  having 
been  prolonged  a  great  while  to  little 
purpose,  a  master  stroke  was  devised 
to    cripple    the    enemies    gallies,   and 
hasten  the  Bashaw's  will  to  capitulate. 
With  this  view,  the  ketch  Intrepid  was 
prepared  as  an  infernal,  to  be  sent  into 
the  harbor  among  the  Tripolitan  vessels, 
and  there   exploded.      To   navigate   a 
machine  to  the  crew  of  which  an  acci- 
dental spark  or  a  shot  from  the  enemy 
was  certain  destruction,  required  no  or- 
dinary degree  of  courage.     But  though 
others  shrank  back,  Somers  volunteered 

«  These  farts  are  from  the  MSS.  of  a  Sepfnge- 
narian  before  cited.  The  writer  knew  all  the 
men,  of  whom  he  speaks  personally  and  intimately. 

+  See  Garden's  Anecdotes  of  the  American 
Revolution. 


94 


CONCLUSION. 


for  the  adventure,  and  with  a  picked 
crew,  on  a  proper  ni;:^ht,  cmburked  in 
the  infernal  lor  the  harbor.  For  a  few 
minutes  the  breathless  Americans  peered 
with  intense,  unsatisfied  curiosity  into 
the  deep  darkness  which  had  swallowed 
the  adventurous  vessel.  Then  shells  and 
shot  started  from  the  alarmed  battery  of 
the  town,  and  swept  in  every  direction. 
A  fierce  light  rested  for  a  moment  upon 
the  wave,  and  with  the  tenfold  darkness 
that  returned,  came  a  terrific  concussion 
which  made  tiie  ships  in  the  offing-  quake 
from  their  trucks  their  keels.  It  was 
evident  that  the  ketch  had  prematurely 
exploded,  and  that  Soraers  and  his  crew 
had  been  blown  to  a  thousand  atoms !  It 
was  understood  upon  the  departure  of 
the  infernal  from  the  fleet  that  in  no 
event  was  her  cargo  of  powder  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  Tripolitans. 
Somers  was  known  to  be  a  man  capable 
of  any  sacrifice  for  the  glory  of  the  ser- 
vice and  the  welfare  of  his  country;  and 
it  was  therefore  believed  by  Preble  (and 
is  still  believed  upon  every  foretop  and 
quarter-deck  of  our  navy)  that  being 
discovered  and  in  danger  of  being  taken, 
he  ordered  the  match  to  be  applied  to 
the  magazine,  and  died  with  his  com- 
rades, to  keep  from  the  enemy  the  means 
of  prolonging  the  war.^- 

Were  we  to  dwell  upon  the  biogra- 
phies of  all  the  distinguished  sons  of  old 
Gloucester,  where  would  we  find — what 
we  fear  the  reader  already  anticipates 
Avith  pleasure — the  end  of  our  book  ? 
One  has  risen  from  a  poor  Eggharbor 
fisher-boy  to  be  the  second  only  among 
the  millionaires  of  America.  Another, 
left  at  an  early  age  an  orphan  and  friend- 
less, becomes  celebrated  as  the  most 
eloquent  man  at  the  most  powerful  bar 
in  the  Union.  A  third  receives  for  the 
first  time,  directly  at  the  hands  of  the 
people,  the  office  of  Governor  of  New 
Jersey.  And,  many,  in  distant  states,  by 
the  manner  in  which  they  discharge  high 
and  responsible  posts,  relloct  honor  upon 
the  shire  that  gave  them  birth. 


•  Cooper's  Naval  History,  Vol.  II,  p.  75,  etc., 
and  see  the  Sketches  of  Somersi,  by  thp  sjime 
author,  in  Graham's  Magazine,  October,  1842. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

CONCLUSION. 

No  need  to  lum  the  page  as  if  'twere  lead 
Or  flinj;  aside  the  voluiiie  till  to- morrow  ! 

Be  cheer'd — tis  ended — and  I  will  not  borrow, 
To  try  lliy  patience  more,  one  dnecdote 

From  liarllioiiuc,  or  Perinskiold,  or  Snorro. 

Scott's  Harold  the  Dauntlett. 

To  him  who  has  felt  sufficient  interest 
in  our  desultory  sketches  to  have  fol- 
lowed us  thus  far,  no  apology  will  be 
necessary  for  introducing,  in  conclusion, 
a  short  notice  of  some  of  the  books  from 
which  we  have  gleaned  our  materials. 
Something  of  the  biography  of  every 
writer,  something  of  the  occasion  of  his 
work  and  of  the  time  and  circumstances 
of  its  publication,  and  of  the  manner  in 
which  it  was  received  by  his  cotempo- 
raries,  is  requisite  to  be  known,  to  enable 
the  reader  to  understand  well  and  esti- 
mate properly  what  he  peruses.  And 
who  has  not  felt  the  additional  pleasure 
which  such  scraps  of  information  impart 
to  his  reading  ?  Who,  for  instance,  does 
not  devour  Rasselas  with  increased  de- 
light, after  learning  that  Johnson  wrote 
it  in  less  than  a  week  to  raise  money  to 
pay  the  funeral  expenses  of  his  mother? 
or  Ca;sar's  Commentaries  with  more  in- 
terest, after  learning  how  narrowly  they 
escaped  destruction  in  the  bay  of  Alex- 
andria? We  see  no  reason  why  such 
extrinsic  facts  as  serve  to  explain  or  to 
render  pleasing  to  the  student,  the  event- 
ful story  of  his  native  land,  should  be  of 
less  importance  than  the  very  contents 
of  the  books  from  which  it  has  hitherto 
been  our  object  to  extract  the  essence. 

The  most  ancient  historian  in  whose 
pages  we  find  any  thing  definite  in  rela- 
tion to  the  cast  bank  of  the  Delaware,  is 
John  de  Laet,  a  native  of  Antwerp,  but 
a  resident  of  Leyden;  who  was  a  very 
learned  man,  and  by  far  more  precise 
and  accurate  than  any  of  his  successors 
who  undertook  to  enumerate  the  Indian 
tribes  of  West  Jersey.  This  may  appear 
singular,  since  De  Laet  was  never  in 
America  himself,  but  wrote  altogether 
from  hearsay.  When  we  remember, 
however,  that  he  was  intimately  ac- 
quainted with   Captain   De  Vries,  and 


CONCLUSION. 


95 


had  also  enjoyed  the  advantajzfe  of  read- 
ing the  MS.  journals  of  Hendrick  Hud- 
son, Adrien  Block,  Capt.  May,  and  per- 
haps other  very  early  voyagers  to  the 
New  Netherlands,  we  will  not  wonder 
at  the  remarkable  accuracy  with  which 
he  has  written  of  that  country.  He  was 
an  enthusiastic  student  in  the  new  field 
of  science  which  the  discovery  of  Ame- 
rica had  opened  to  the  savans  of  Europe; 
and  was  at  one  time  engaged  in  a  con- 
troversy with  Grotius  upon  the  origin 
of  the  Indian  race.  But  his  chief  work 
was  his  •*  New  World  or  a  Description 
of  the  West  Indies,"  which  was  first 
published  in  Dutch,  black-letter,  folio, 
from  the  famous  press  of  the  Elzevirs, 
in  Ley  den,  in  the  year  1625.  This  edi 
tion,  though  it  appeared  but  two  years 
after  Captain  May  had  built  Fort  Nassau, 
contains  some  very  accurate  information 
concerning  the  South  River.  In  1633, 
soon  after  the  visit  of  De  Vries  to  Hol- 
land, a  new  edition  was  published  at  the 
same  pi'ess,  in  Latin,  in  which  was  in- 
corporated much  new  matter  collected 
by  subsequent  traders  to  Fort  Nassau, 
together  with  a  map  entitled  Nova  An- 
glia.  Novum  Belgium  et  Virginia,  which 
is,  we  beheve,  the  first  chart  of  the 
Delaware  now  extant.  With  this  edition 
the  student  of  the  history  of  West  Jersey 
should  begin  his  labors.  The  eleventh 
and  twelfth  chapters  of  the  third  book 
contain  a  description  of  the  Indian  tribes 
from  Cape  May  to  the  Falls  of  Trenton, 
than  which,  we  venture  the  assertion, 
no  subsequent  account  can  compare  in 
succintness,  clearness  and  intrinsic  evi- 
dence of  truth.  De  Laet  died  in  1649, 
having  enjoyed  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
his  "New  World"  acquire  a  high  repu- 
tation among  readers  of  three  languages. 
This  book,  especially  in  the  Latin,  al- 
ways commands  an  extravagant  price 
among  the  literati  of  Europe,  on  ac- 
count of  the  great  beauty  of  the  Elzevir 
type.  A  translation  of  the  part  relating 
to  the  New  Netherlands  has  been  pub- 
lished, in  the  first  volume  of  the  New 
Series  of  the  New  York  Historical  Col- 
lections, which  in  a  measure  atones  for 
the  extreme  scarcity  of  the  original. 
Next  to  De   Laet  comes  the  royal 


Beauchamp  Plantagenet,  whose 
"  Description  of  the  Province  of  New 
Albion,  and  a  Direction  for  Adventurers 
with  small  stock  to  get  two  for  one  and 
good  Land  freely,"  was  made  up  in  1648, 
of  two  pamphlets  which  had  appeared 
in  1637  and  1642.  Of  the  history  of 
Flantagenet  we  have  already  told  all 
we  know.  His  book  has  been  ridiculed 
by  some  as  a  mere  fabrication,*  but  the 
best  opinion  iSjthat,  though  very  careless- 
ly written,  it  is  really  what  it  professes  to 
be,  to  wit:  the  result  of  an  actual  resi- 
dence, by  certain  English  settlers  under 
the  grant  to  Ployden,  during  the  inter- 
regnum between  the  Dutch  and  Swedish 
empires,  upon  the  banks  of  the  Dela- 
ware. But  one  printed  copy  of  this 
most  singular  work  is  believed  now  to 
exist;  and  that  is  very  much  worn  and 
defaced. t 

Perhaps  we  should  rank  the  "  Des- 
cription of  New  Sweden,"  by  Campa- 
Nius,  as  the  third  book  in  point,  of  anti 
quity,  which  treats  particularly  of  the 
banks  of  the  Delaware ;  for  although  it 
was  not  printed  until  after  several  other 
works  had  appeared  upon  that  portion 
of  hisior}^,  yet  the  material  was  collected 
by  Thomas  Campanius  and  Peter  Lind- 
strom  or  Lindhestrom,  of  whom  the  for- 
mer came  out  with  Governor  Printz,  in 
1642,  and  the  latter  with  Governor  Ri- 
singh,  shortly  after.  This  Campanius, 
it  will  be  remembered,  vras  a  Swedish 
clergyman,  who  lived  in  New  Sweden 
for  six  years.  Pie  was  born  at  Stock- 
holm, (whence  he  is  sometimes  called 
Thomas  Campanius  Holm,)  on  the  fif- 
teenth of  August,  1601.  He  went 
through  his  studies  with  much  credit,, 
after  which  he  was  employed  many 
years  as  preceptor  in  the  Orphan's: 
House,  in  his  native  city.  After  his  re- 
turn home  in  1648.  he  was  made  first 
preacher  of  the  Swedish  Admiralty^ 
and  subsequently  had  the  cure  of  souls 

*  See  the  paper   by  Mr.  Pennington,  in  Vol. 
VI.  of  the  Memoirs  of  Ihe  Penn.  Hist.  Society. 

t  This    copy  is    in  the    Philadelphia  Library. 
Tiiinking  it   a  pity  tiiat  so  rare  a  work  should 
perish,  we  some   lime  ago  took  an  exact  trans- 
cript  of  it  ot>  parchment  paper,  from  which  a  r« 
print  may  at  some  tiuie  be  made. 


96 


CONXLUSION. 


at  Frost  Hultz  and  Herenwys  in  Upland. 
Here  he  completed  a  translation  of  Lu- 
ther's Catechism  into  the  Indian  lan- 
guage, which  was  printed  at  Stockholm 
in  1696,  and  sent  out  to  New  Sweden. 
He  died  on  the  seventeenth  of  Septem- 
ber, 16S3;  and  was  buried  in  the  church 
of  Frost  Hultz,  where  the  choir  erected 
to  his  memory  a  handsome  monument. 
The  notes  which  he  had  collected  dur- 
ing his  residence  at  Tinicum,  were  ed- 
ited by  his  grand  son,  also  named 
Thomas  Campanius  Holm.  This  com- 
pilation, called  "  Nya  Swerige"  in  the 
Swedish,  was  printed  at  Stockholm  in 
1702.  It  has  been  made  accessible  to 
English  readers  by  Mr.  Duponceau's 
translation,  which  was  undertaken  at  the 
suggestion  of  the  Pennsylvania  Histori- 
cal Society.  A  small  copy  of  Lind- 
strom's  Map  of  the  Delaware,  drawn  in 
1654  or  1655,  accompanies  the  work, 
and  a  written  relation  by  the  same  au- 
thor is  often  referred  to.  A  French 
translation  of  these  Lindstrom  MSS. 
was  procured  from  the  archives  of  the 
Swedish  Government  at  Stockholm,  by 
Capt.  William  Jones,  and  is  preserved 
in  the  library  of  the  American  Philiso- 
phical  Society,  as  is  also  a  twenty-seven 
inch  copy  from  the  original  Lindstrom 
Chart,  called  Ardcnna  Novae,  Svecias. 
Carta  med  dess  Rivicrs,  etc.,  which 
was  destroyed  at  the  conflagration  of 
the  Royal  Palace  at  Stockholm,  in  1697. 
In  addition  to  the  notes  of  his  grand- 
father, the  verbal  accounts  of  his  father 
(who  was  also  some  time  in  New  Swe- 
den) and  the  MSS.  of  Lindstrom,  the 
editor  of  Nya  Swerige  seems  to  have 
had  ac-cess  to  a  book  written  by  Francis 
Daniel  Pastorius,  a  Dutch  Quaker  and 
magistrate,  who  lived  at  Germantown, 
and  to  several  of  the  letters  written  by 
William  Penn  after  the  founding  of 
Philadelphia.  But  ho  has  so  jumbled 
matters  together  that  his  meaning  is  of- 
ten obscure,  and  he  is  so  fond  of  the  mar- 
vellous that  he  seems  sometimes  only  to 
amuse  himself  by  writing  fables.  Yet, 
we  owe  to  him  many  undoubted  facts 
which  we  could  gather  no  where  else. 

The  next  of  our  historians  nnd  gcogra- 
pherB  is  Adrian  Van  der  Donck,  who 


took  at  the  Leydon  University,  the  im- 
posing degree  of  Beyder  Rtchten  Doc- 
toor,  which  means  Doctor  of  both  Civil 
and  Canon  Law.  He  enjoys  the  dis- 
tinction of  having  been  the  first  lawyer 
in  the  New  Netherlands,  and  the  first 
Sheriff  of  the  Colony  of  Rensselaerwyck. 
He  came  out  in  1642;  and  in  16.50,  he, 
with  others,  signed  the  remonstrance 
called  Vertoog/i  van  Niew  Nederlandt, 
etc.,  which  was  printed  at  the  Hague, 
and  which  was  the  nest-egg  perhaps  of 
that  excellent  •'  Description  of  the  New 
Netherlands,"  to  which  we  would  com- 
mend every  assiduous  student  of  our 
early  history.  The  first  edition  of  this 
work  was  printed  about  1053;  the  second 
and  the  one  from  which  Mr.  Johnson  of 
Brooklyn  has  made  his  translation,  bears 
the  imprint  of  Evert  Nieuwenhof,  Am- 
sterdam, 1656.  Van  der  Donck  was  a 
learned  man — but  preferred  his  vernacu- 
lar Dutch  to  the  J^atin,  in  order  perhaps 
to  draw  the  more  settlers  to  a  colony  in 
whose  prosperity  he  was  so  deeply  nter- 
ested.  His  few  errors  are  upon  the  ex- 
cusable side.  Instead  of  stocking  the 
new  country,  like  Campanius,  with  night- 
ingales, prophetic  grass,  miraculous 
fish-trees,  and  the  like,  he  introduces 
lions,  and  some  other  ornaments  quite 
as  little  seductive.  His  map,  of  the  New 
Netherlands,  which  bears  date  1656,  is 
as  far  as  the  Delaware  is  concerned, 
remarkably  correct,  and  seems  to  have 
been  the  foundation  of  Ogilby's  and 
other  subsequent  charts. 

In  1055,  were  published  in  Dutch,  at 
Alckmaer,  North  Holland,  at  the  press 
of  Simon  Cornelis  Brekgcest,  the  "Brief 
historical  and  journalized  notes  of  seve- 
ral voyages  to  the  four  quarters  of  the 
Globe,  etc.,  by  David  Pieteks^jkn  de 
Vries,  Master  of  Artillery  to  the  Most 
Honorable  liords,  the  Committee  Coun- 
cil of  the  States  of  West  Vriesland  and 
the  North  Quarter."  This  was  the  samo 
De  Vries  who  figured  so  conspicuously 
in  the  history  of  Fort  Nassau.  That 
portion  of  his  work  which  Mr.  Troost 
has  translated  into  English  for  the  New 
York  Historical  Society,  and  other  frag- 
ments which  we  found  among  the  MSS. 
of  Pierre   du  Cimitiere,  have   been  of 


OONCLUSIONi 


«7 


much  service  to  us.  De  Vries  was  from 
Hoorn,  a  port  in  North  Holland  famous 
as  a  nursery  of  good  seamen.  He  was 
an  expert  navigator,  and  wrote  with 
much  clearness  and  precision.  He  was 
concerned  with  his  friends  De  Laet  and 
Van  Rensselaer  in  planting  colonies  in 
the  New  Netherlands,  but  seems  not  to 
have  run  into  the  common  error  of  inter- 
ested authors,  setting  off  the  country  in 
false  colors. 

The  rare  little  book  by  Gabriel 
Thomas,  called  "An  Historical  and  Ge- 
ographical account  of  the  Province  and 
County  of  Pennsylvania  and  of  West 
New  Jersey,  in  America,"  was  printed 
at  London,  in  1698.  The  author  was  a 
Quaker,  who  came  over  in  the  Sarah 
and  John,  the  first  ship  that  sailed  from 
England  to  Penn's  province  after  it  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Pennsylvania.  He 
lived  in  Philadelphia  about  fifteen  years. 
He  tells  us  that  he  saw  the  first  cellar 
in  that  city  when  it  was  digging  for  the 
Governor,  William  Penn.  He  is  very 
particular  to  reassure  us  that  what  he  de- 
livers "is  indisputably  true,"  as  he  was 
an  eye  witness  to  it  all.  In  the  preface 
to  his  West  Jersey,  he  encourages  "the 
idle,  the  sloathful  and  the  vas;abonds  of 
England,  Scotland  and  Ireland  to  hasten 
thither"  instead  of  "lingering  out  their 
days  so  miserably  poor  and  half  starved, 
or  ivliippin^,  burnbig  and  hangini^  for 
villainies,  they  will  have  little  temptation, 
nay,  or  inclination  to  perpetrate  here." 
This  work  is  now  very  scarce,  and  com- 
mands a  high  price. 

Peter  Kalm,  whose  "  Travels  in 
North  America"  have  been  so  often 
cited  in  the  preceding  pages,  was  born 
in  1715,  in  Ostro  Bothnia,  Sweden. 
From  1748  to  1751,  he  was  engaged  in 
making  a  botanical  exploration  of  North 
America.  He  hastened,  as  soon  as  he 
arrived,  to  visit  his  countrymen  in  Glou- 
cester county,  and  spent  some  months 
among  them,  in  investigating  the  natural 
history  of  New  Sweden.  After  his  re- 
turn home,  he  was  made  professor  of 
Botany  in  the  University  of  i\bo,  where 
he  died  in  1779.  He  was  the  intimate 
friend  of  the  great  Linnanis,  and  was 
himself  a  very  distinguished  naturalist. 
o 


Besides  his  Travels  in  America,  which 

were  translated  and  published  in  Eng- 
land, in  1770,  he  left  more  than  eighty 
dissertations  upon  various  subjects  con- 
cerning the  commerce,  agriculture  and 
manufactures  of  Sweden.^- 

In  1795  the  Rev.  Israel  Ackelius 
published  at  Stockholm  a  "Description 
of  the  present  and  former  state  of  the 
Swedish  congregations  in  New  Swe- 
den," which  was  translated  by  Nicholas 
ColHn,  D.  D.j  formerly  pastor  of  the 
Swedish  Church  at  Racoon.  Acrelius 
officiated  for  several  years  at  the  church 
at  Christina,  Delaware,  and  was  Provost 
of  the  Swedish  clergy,  of  what  had  once 
been  New  Sweden.  He  returned  to  old 
Sweden  in  1756,  aild  resumed  the  pas- 
torship of  Fellingsbro,  where  he  lived 
when  his  Description  was  published. 
Duponcean  regarded  this  as  a  work  of 
high  authority,  and  often  quotes  it  in  his 
notes  to  Campanius.  The  translation 
by  Collin  is  said  to  be  very  imperfect  ; 
but  still  it  forms  a  very  valuable  addition 
to  our  local  history. 

Pierre  du  Cimitiere  or  Simitiere 
(sometimes  corrupted  into  Simitre)  was 
born  at  Geneva,  Switzerland.  He  came 
to  Philadelphia  several  years  before  the 
Revolution,  and  resided  there  until  after 
that  event.  He  was  a  portrait  painter 
by  profession,  and  a  very  good  artist, 
but  s-eems  to  have  cared  little  for  domes- 
tic happiness  or  the  exercise  of  political 
rights,  for  he  was  never  married  or 
naturalized*  Feeling,  a  deep  interest  in 
(he  neglected  history  of  bis  adopted 
country,  he  collected  a  vast  amount  of 
local  facts,  upon  which  every  American 
writer  can  draw  with  profit.  Upon  his 
decease' all  of  his  MSS.  were  deposited 
in  the  Philadelphia  Libi-ary,  where  they 
yet  remain,  to  chide  the  remissness  of 
those  who  are  "natives,  and  to  the  man- 
or born." 

The  Marquis  de  Chastellux  was  a 
French  nobleman,  who  with  Lafayette 
visited  our  county  soon  after  the  close 
of  the  war  of  liberty.  His  "  Travels," 
which  were  translated  into  English  about 
1786,  have  a  peculiar  value  to  the  reader 

*  Davenports  Diet.  Biog.  tit.  Kalm, 


93 


CONCLUSION. 


of  West  Jersey  history,  as  containing  a 
precise  and  intellif^ible  account  of  most 
of  the  Revolutionary  battles  fought  along 
the  Delaware. 

John  Pkter  Brissot  de  Warville, 
another  Frenchman  who  visited  Phila- 
delphia and  the  neighboring  places  in 
17SS,  wrote  a  book  of  "  New  Travels," 
which  is  a  kind  of  comment  upon  tho 
work  by  Chastellux.  Brissot  was  the 
son  of  a  pastry-cook,  and  was  born  near 
Chartrcs,  in  1757.  lie  was  a  rank  re- 
publican, and  one  of  the  prime  movers 
in  the  French  Revolution.  After  being 
two  or  three  times  an  editor,  and  once 
imprisoned  in  the  Bastile  for  libel,  he 
came  to  America,  Returning  to  Franco, 
in  1789,  he  plunged  again  into  the  stor- 
my sea  of  politics,  and  was  at  last,  in 
1793,  sent  to  the  scaflbld  by  Robespierre, 
who  headed  the  opposite  and  then  tri- 
umphant faction.  Brissot  was  a  promi- 
nent man  in  the  J>egislativc  Assembly  of 
1791  and  in  the  Convention ;  and  his  in- 
trigues it  is  said,  succeeded  in  bringing 
about  the  war  between  France,  Austria 
and  Great  Britain. -'^ 

Lastly,  among  those  foreigners  to 
whom  we  owe  much  of  the  information, 
whatever  it  may  be,  transmitted  in  this 
pamphlet,  is  the  late  Petkk  Stkpiien 
DupoNCEAU,  a  nativ(!  of  the  romantic  isle 
of  Rlie,  oil  Larochelle,  in  France.  This 
gnntleman  came  to  America,  when  a 
youns:  man,  and  settled  in  Philadelphia, 
where  he  afierwards  became  distin- 
guished as  a  lawyer,  but  still  more  dis- 
tinguished as  a  patron  of  our  local  his- 
tory. He  was  a  man  of  very  extensive 
literary  ac(iuiremenfs,  and  a  patient  in- 
vestigator of  every  subject  to  wliich  he 
tiirned  his  atttmtion.  The  members  of 
the  Historical  Society,  over  which  he 
yiresided  so  accepial)ly,  and  all  who  care 
for  the  annals  of  their  homesteads  will 
long  cherish  for  his  memory  a  warm  re- 
gard. 

A  tribute  is  due  to  that  oliscure  but 
merilorions  native  gr-oj^raiiher,  J(jrTN 
UilA.,  of  Darby,  Pennsylvania,  wiio  imb- 

•  '^.•p  Diirivagu's  Cyclop,  and  D.ivcn(iort,  lit. 
Biisrtol. 


lished  in  1809  a  circular  chart,  called 
"  Hill's  Record  and  Historical  Map  of 
Philadelphia  and  Environs,"  which  cost 
him  eight  or  nine  years  work.  This 
chart  is  a  minute  representation,  admi 
rably  drawn  from  actual  survey,  of  the 
country  as  it  then  was,  within  a  circle 
described  with  a  radius  of  ten  miles, 
about  the  centre-hydrant  in  Philadelphia. 
Within  this  space,  as  well  in  Gloucester 
county  as  in  Pennsylvania,  most  of  the 
family  estates  then  subsisting  are  laid 
down,  with  the  number  of  acres,  the 
name  of  each  property,  and  the  year  of 
its  location.  Poor  Hill  continued  his 
labors  after  his  map  was  first  published, 
hoping  that  the  patronage  extended  to  it 
would  warrant  another  and  improved 
edition ;  but  sometime  before  his  death, 
finding  this  hope  sadly  fallacious,  he 
abandoned  the  idea  and  gave  to  our 
grand-father  his  own  copy,  upon  which 
his  contemplated  additions  were  marked. 
I/ike  our  friend  Howe,  in  more  recent 
days,  Hill  took  his  knapsack  upon  his 
back,  and  went  into  the  byways  as  well 
as  highways,  in  search  of  information, 
calling  at  every  house,  and  inquiring  of 
every  passenger,  until  he  reached  the 
bottom  of  the  matter  he  had  in  hand. 

Of  the  ninety-six  men  whose  writings, 
gentle  reader,  we  have  carefully  ran- 
sacked for  thy  amusement,  or  it  may  be, 
thy  instruction,  of  these  few  we  have 
thought  it  best  to  make  special  mention. 
For,  as  in  writing  the  history  of  Glou- 
cester county,  we  have  sought  to  give 
thee  not  those  facts  which  any  school- 
book  or  newspaper  could  tell  thee,  but 
rather  those  which  are  curious  and  by 
the  iirnorant,  incredible  ;  so  in  speaking 
of  the  historians  of  our  good  County,  we 
introduce  to  thee  not  thorough  actpiain- 
tances,  such  as  Smith  and  Gordon,  but 
those  ancient  worthies  who  hide  them- 
selves in  the  corners  of  libraries  and  the 
lolls  of  houses.  It  is  these  whom  wo 
have  invoked  to  tell  thee  stories  of  thy 
native  land.  Question  them  soundly;  for 
they  can  jrive  thee  much  that  we  have 
not  even  hinted.  Remember  thi'm  well; 
for  it  is  at  home  that  true  knowledge 
ever  begins. 


'1  HE    E  xN  D . 


ERRATA. 


The  following  errors  occor  in  part  only  of  the  edition:''— 
Page  3,  Ist  col.  7th  line  from  top,  for  country  read  county. 

"  7,  "    "     25th  "      "      "      "    unautpieious  read  inautpicious. 

"  8, 2d  "    24th    "       "       "      "    dare  read  dared. 

"  15,  "     "    17lh    "      "      "      "    Daniel  Pastoriut  read  Franeit  Daniel  Pati»riu$. 

"  20,  lat  "    lOlh  from  bottom,  for  representation  read  repretentative, 

"  23,  2d  "   18th  from  top,  for  1S97  read  1497. 

"  25,  "     "   (note,)  5  lines  from  bottom  before  "in  16?7"  supply  arrived. 

tt  40^  «•     «»   26th  from  top,  for  proeeedingt  read  proceeding. 

"  46,  1st  "    8lh      "        "      "    has  read  Aore. 

"  54, 2d   "    (note,)  3d  from  bottom,  dele  one  "generally.^* 

"  55,  "     "   3d  from  top,  for  noticd  read  noticed. 

"  5H,  Ist  "    Ist    "    "       "  1804  read  1807. 

"  61,  "    "  22d    »    "      "  1668    "     1698. 

"  62,  "    "  (note,)  the  two  last  lines,  "The  Gloucester  Spring,"  etc.,  belong  at  the  head  of  the  note 

{t)  on  page  61,  second  column. 

"  66,  the  two  notes  at  the  foot  of  the  first  column  are  transposed. 

•'  67,  1st  col.,  last  line  of  the  text,  for  bletting  read  blettinga. 

"  68,  ct  sequentibup,  for  Manduit  read  Mauduit. 

"  83,  2d  col.,  10th  from  top,  for  rivalut  read  rivulet, 

"  86, 1st  col.,  note,  8th  line  from  bottom,  after  ^^other^^  insert  tkmn.